


Omo Givnes

by TenToo



Series: Hope is Everything [3]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Camp Jaha | Arkadia, Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Dad!Kane, Delinquents, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Friendship/Love, Grounder Culture, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Mild Sexual Content, Minor Bellamy Blake/Gina Martin, Minor Character Death, Minor Octavia Blake/Lincoln, Minor Raven Reyes/Kyle Wick, Post-Mount Weather, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, Sequel, Trigedasleng, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2018-06-07 08:42:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 51,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6797119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenToo/pseuds/TenToo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This picks up where "I'm Right Here" left off. Arkadia has been pulled into the civil war between Ice Nation and Marcus Kane, as Chancellor, must make the tough decisions that come with his title. But, Abby Griffin is by his side and, together, they will get their people through this war they wanted nothing to do with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. War on the Doorstep

**Author's Note:**

> I strongly recommend reading "I'm Right Here" first. I understand if you don't though, it's a whopping 35 chapters. 
> 
> Anyway, here we go with the sequel :)

_“Hope is everything.”_

_-_ Abby Griffin, “Earth Skills“

 

* * *

 

Three days had past since Lexa and Roan’s warriors had set up camp less than amile from Arkadia. The air was thick with the promise of war and blood, it was a wonder that they could still breathe it. Kane could hardly think as he walked back from their camp with Bellamy after a last minute war council meeting. His head swam with battle plans and strategy, but all he wanted to do was sit around with Abby, Benja, and Clarke and relax.

They passed through rows of tents outside of the gates of Arkadia and Kane spoke with a few of the Grounders along the way. Penn glanced up from the fire he ate dinner at and called out, _“Yu chek bilaik skrish._ | You look like shit.”

 _“Shof op_ | Be quiet,” Kane said, not bothering to look his way. Bellamy fought a smile and taunted, _“En yu chek bilaik mokskwoma, Pen. Yu jos ste pis yu ste ban au._ | And you look like a worm, Penn. You’re just angry you are being left behind.”

Penn scowled but didn’t retort, instead he turned back to his food, slicing off a large piece of meat and stuffing it in his mouth. Kane smirked and passed through the gates with Bellamy. They passed by several vehicles — Raven, Mel, and Robert Stanhope had managed to get a few more started in Mount Weather over the last few days. They had fixed them up enough to take the guards the nearly 400 miles to the Ice Nation capital.

“Sir?” Kane looked at him and Bellamy nodded toward the garden where Nyko was planting something. “What’s that about?”

Kane shrugged. “I’ll find out. Go, make sure you are ready to leave. Check on the others. We leave at sunrise.”

Bellamy nodded and walked away. Kane walked toward the garden, noticing Eleanor Nelson working alongside the Grounder healer. He saw the small bump that was her stomach, regretting instantly the fact that Thomas was coming with them tomorrow.

He knelt next to Eleanor and asked, “What’s going on here?”

They both looked at him, Nyko’s face was unreadable but Eleanor gave him a small smile. She said, “Nyko has been kind enough to offer us some medicinal herbs for the garden.”

“Has he?” Kane asked, meeting Nyko’s gaze. The Grounder nodded.

He said, “Don’t brush them off, Kane. One of these is helping Jasper as we speak. The boy is healing. He will wake soon.”

“One saved Penn, I know they work, Nyko. Thank you,” Kane told the healer. He watched as the two of them finished with the planting of the herbs. They rose to their feet, Eleanor with difficulty, causing Kane to seize her elbow to steady her. He nodded to the healer before he set off toward Gedanes, the expanded housing project he now called home.

It meant “Unity” in Trigedasleng, it only felt right given the direction he was taking their camp. The Council had approved it instantly and Sinclair had constructed the sign. Half of camp had opted to move to the new quarters, leaving much of Alpha abandoned, allowing the Council the opportunity to brainstorm new ideas for the old station, if they ever had the time.

“Marcus.” He turned and found Eleanor walking quickly toward him. He stopped to let her catch up and he fell into step beside her. He raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to say her peace. He expected her to try and talk him out taking her husband with him. Instead, she held out an herb for him. “Valerian.”

He took it and examined it for a moment before meeting her gaze again. “What does it do?”

“A lot of things,” she said with a smile. She watched him twirl the plant absently in his hands for a moment before she explained, “But make a tea from it, give it to Abby.”

His eyebrow raised as they passed through the outer door into Gedanes. They walked along the hallway, until they reached the Nelsons’ quarters, one of the first in the new station. He asked, “Why?”

She gave him a sad smile. “She’s been running herself ragged these past few days, getting everything ready for your departure. Give her this, she’ll get a well deserved sleep tonight.”

He smiled and glanced at the ground before meeting her eyes again. “Thank you, Eleanor.” He touched her arm briefly before he set off down the hallway.

Their quarters was at the end of the hallway on the first floor and was marked _Chancellor’s Quarters_. It was the largest in the entire camp, with three bedrooms — albeit small bedrooms — and several bunks built into the hallway that held the bathroom. Two of the bedrooms had two bunks each built into the walls but the third bedroom had an actual bed. Abby preferred this one over their old one, she claimed it was much softer, but he couldn’t tell the difference. All he cared about was being with her and their family.

Kane opened the door, finding an empty and silent room. His eyes passed over the couch and chairs, over the clear board in the corner, over the chess board set up on the coffee table, a forgotten game still waiting to be finished on it. He smiled to himself before walking to the small galley kitchen and starting on the tea.

He was seated on couch, _War and Peace_ open in his hands, when the door opened and Abby walked in. She hung up her jacket and slipped off her boots before walking over to him. She flopped down on the couch next to him, tucking her feet under her and leaned her head against him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders as she slid hers over his stomach and shut her eyes.

“Long day?” He asked, turning the page of his book. He was only a quarter of the way through, but progress was progress. He glanced down at her when he felt her nod against his chest. “Where’s Benja?”

“Playing with Reese, Parish, and Cara, I believe,” she mumbled into his shirt. His eyes were still on her worn out face and he sighed, snapping the book shut. He leaned forward, causing her to pull away from him, annoyed.

Two mugs sat on the coffee table, both still steaming. He left his own, that held simple green tea, in place and instead picked up the one made from the valerian root. He leaned back and held it out for Abby. She raised an eyebrow but took it from him. He reached for his mug and took a sip of his tea.

“What’s this?” She asked, staring down into the mug of brown liquid. When her eyes met his again, he was smiling. He cupped her cheek and said, “It is valerian tea, you have been working too hard, Abby.”

She shook her head, trying to hand it back to him. “I have patients who need me, Marcus.”

He held his hands behind his back, not allowing her to give the mug back. “It’s Jackson’s shift tonight. I told him the only plausible reason for interrupting you tonight would be a nuclear war — and Earth’s already had one of those, I don’t see another happening tonight.”

“You had no right to tell him that, what if there is an emergency?” Abby said, gripping the mug tight in her hands.

“You have to cut the cord sometime; besides, I have every right.” He said gently, reaching out to the lift the mug toward her lips. “I’m the Chancellor, Abby. I need my doctors well rested.”

She glared at him over the top of the mug as she raised it to her lips. She knew he was right and hated that he could use his position to sway her to do what he wanted. She drained the mug and handed it back to him more forcefully than she intended. She stood from the couch and disappeared into their bedroom.

He sighed and picked up his mug, drinking it slowly before following her. She sat at the desk under the window and was going over patient charts. She shook her head as he stepped next to her, whispering, “I can’t believe you are drugging me, Marcus.”

Kane walked behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, leaning down to whisper in her ear, “You had no problem doing it to me; you enjoyed it if I remember correctly.”

“I’m a doctor,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “I know what I’m doing.”

“These are just herbs, Abby,” he said, placing a kiss beneath her ear. His fingers starting to work at the knots under her shoulder blades.

“You can’t ply me further with a back rub,” she said even as her eyes drifted shut and her head rolled back again his chest. He smiled as he looked down at her, watching the stress erase from her face as the tea took effect and his hands did their job on her back.

He pulled away after a few minutes and a deep frown settled on her face as she whispered, “Don’t stop.”

He let out a breathy laugh and said, “We should get you to bed.”

She nodded but made no effort to move.

“Abby?”

“Mhmm?” She murmured, her eyes barely opening to look at him under her lashes. He smiled at her and said, “Let me get you into bed.”

Again, she nodded and closed her eyes. He sighed and turned her chair. He bent down and scooped her out of the seat into his arms. Hers wrapped around his neck on reflex and her head rested against his chest as he carried her to the bed. He smiled to himself as he pulled back the blanket and settled her in the bed. He reached for the button of her pants, knowing how she liked to sleep. He pulled them off of her legs before tucking the blanket around her.

As he pulled away, her hand came to rest on his arm. She was looking up at him, fighting to keep her eyes open. She squeezed his arm and he knew what she wanted. He leaned in and pressed a light kiss to her lips. She whispered, “Thank you, Marcus.”

He smiled as he pulled away. “You’re welcome, Abby.” Her eyes drifted shut and he added, “I’ll go find that damn kid of ours.”

She nodded as she curled up in the blanket. Her voice was thick with sleep as she replied, “Good, who knows what trouble he’s getting up to. He’s too much like you.”

Kane laughed as he walked out of the room. He collected the mugs and washed them quickly before he picked up his jacket and walked out of the room. The sun had already set by the time he exited Gedanes and he walked toward the patio. Benja and his friends liked to play football in front of the patio, showing off for whoever was enjoying the fire pit or sitting around after work.

He found him sitting at the fire pit with Rebecca, Gina, and Bellamy. Kane sat next to Benja, placing his foot on top of the football, rolling it back and forth.

“Did I miss the game?” Kane asked and Benja nodded at him, a smile on his face. “Who won?”

The boy’s face fell in an almost comical way. Kane forced himself not to laugh. He placed his hand on Benja’s shoulder and said, “You will get them next time.”

“Yes,” the boy said with confidence.

“Why don’t you go practice for a few minutes while I talk to Rebecca?” He asked quietly. Benja glanced at her before nodding. Kane kicked him the ball and he took off. Bellamy looked to Kane before standing and grabbing Gina’s hand.

“I’ll see you in the morning, Kane,” Bellamy called. Kane nodded, watching them go. Rebecca was looking at him expectantly when he turned back to her.

“What’s up?” She asked, a small smile on her face.

“I wanted to say goodbye before we left,” he said quietly. He turned toward the fire and leaned forward, staring into it, unable to actually look at her for this conversation. He continued, “If I don’t make it back, I…”

Rebecca rested her head against his shoulder and curled her arms around his that was nearest to her. One of her hands slid down his arm and grasped his hand in hers. “Marcus, it’s okay. You don’t have to say anything.”

He nodded and squeezed her hand tightly in his, hoping she understood everything he couldn’t tell her. He wanted her to know that he was sorry for shutting her out, for allowing her to be arrested, for pushing her from his mind because it was easier for him to cope and move on. He wanted her to know that he loved her, that he always would, that he would support her no matter what.

She leaned over and pressed her lips to his cheek before leaning against his shoulder again. They stayed like that for some time, several others around the fire retired to bed. It wasn’t until Benja came back and told Kane that he wanted to go home that Kane finally looked at Rebecca.

She had tears in her eyes and he reached out to wipe them away. She met his eyes and gave him a sad smile. She whispered, “It will be okay, right?”

He nodded, though he was still on the fence about it himself. He would have said anything to make her feel better. He stepped closer and pulled her into a hug, burying his face in her shoulder. He whispered, “I’ll be back soon, I promise.”

She nodded against him, squeezing him tight. “You’d better.”

She released him and said goodbye to Benja before she walked off toward Alpha Station. He frowned before he glanced at Benja who was waiting. He rolled the football toward himself and flicked it up, catching it after a bounce. He said, “Let’s go.”

They arrived home a few minutes later. There was a light under Clarke’s door, but by the time they hung up their jackets, it was gone. He hadn’t seen her all day and wondered where she had been. He walked with Benja toward his bedroom and opened the door, letting the boy walk in ahead of him.

Kane was surprised by the cleanliness of the room, but it was something Abby expected from Benja. He kicked the boy’s football into the corner of the room and said, _“Reshop, Ben._ | Goodnight, Ben.”

“Goodnight,” he said, walking toward the small dresser that held his clothes.

Kane walked out of the room to his and Abby’s. He didn’t turn on the light and stripped himself to his t-shirt and boxers before climbing into bed with her. She didn’t even stir when he wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her neck. He would have to thank Eleanor for the miracle that was Abby Griffin sleeping soundly.

 

* * *

 

Her nightmares were unforgiving that night, as they had been for the past several nights — images of Benja bloody on the ground, of Marcus laying lifeless staring back at her, of Clarke being tortured filled her head and caused her to wake in a sweat just before dawn. She reached for Marcus, but found the bed empty. She glanced around the room before sliding out of bed and pulling on a thin robe. She walked out of their room and found him sitting on the couch in the dark, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees, his head in his hands.

She whispered, “Marcus?”

He started and bolted upright, his head snapping to look at her. “Abby, what are you doing up? Go back to bed, we don’t leave for another hour.”

She shook her head and walked toward him, sitting next to him and taking his hand. “What are you doing out here?”

He leaned forward, putting his chin in his hand. He mumbled, staring absently at the chess board on the coffee table, “This is a mistake, Abby.”

She squeezed his hand and his eyes drifted to look at her. She shook her head once she had his attention. “No, it’s not. Think of how they saved us in our time of need.”

“We have twenty people,” he said incredulously, eyebrows squeezing together. “Half of them are kids. Two of them are you and Benja. What difference can we make?”

“One person can make all the difference in a war, Marcus,” Abby said gently, running her thumb over the back of his hand. She leaned over and kissed his cheek lightly. The corner of his mouth pulled up at the gesture. She whispered, “You just have to have hope, _ai gona._ ”

A smile slowly spread on his lips and he turned to face her. He reached up and cupped her cheek. “I don’t deserve you, Abby.”

She looked at him seriously for a moment before climbing quickly onto his lap. She placed a light kiss against the corner of his mouth, murmuring, “Yes, you do. And I love you, Marcus Kane. We’ll get through this war, we’ll have peace.”

His eyes searched her face before he slowly nodded and leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers. She could taste the acceptance on them and that was enough for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated; I love hearing what you all have to say! 
> 
> Welcome to the sequel and thank you so much for continuing this journey with me!
> 
> -Lauren


	2. Bump in the Road

_“I don’t have to answer to anyone.”_

— John Murphy, “Murphy’s Law”

 

* * *

 

Medical was silent at this early hour, but Kane had to see him before he left. Abby insisted on coming, saying something about having to clear an issue with Jackson before leaving. He knew she wanted to be there in case something had happened to Jasper in the night and they hadn’t heard.

Kane wasn’t the only one who had the idea of seeing him before leaving. Harper was at his side — like she had been so often over the past two weeks — his hand loosely in hers as she slept awkwardly in the chair. He knew she had come here after training the previous night and he knew now that she had never left. He glanced at Abby and she smiled as she met his eyes.

“You should wake her, we’re leaving soon,” she said quietly as she touched his arm. He nodded and Abby walked away toward her office where a light was on and he knew Jackson was still hunkered down after a long shift, going over charts.

Kane turned to Harper and Jasper, watching them for a moment before he crouched next to Harper and gently shook her shoulder. Her eyes flashed open in alarm, her hand squeezing Jasper’s tightly on reflex. The alarm faded when her eyes met Kane’s. She looked at the clock on the wall and said, “I overslept, didn’t I?”

“You have ten minutes,” Kane said, nodding. Harper glanced at Jasper before looking at Kane again. He smiled sadly and said, “I’ll give you a moment.”

“Thanks,” she said, standing. Kane walked toward the office and stepped just inside, leaning against the wall. The two doctors looked at him, Abby’s eyebrow rose. Kane explained, “Harper’s saying goodbye.”

Abby’s lips pursed together, fighting a smile as she looked at him. “He woke up last night, Marcus.”

Kane’s eyes shot to Jackson, needing confirmation from the person who was present when it happened. He nodded and Kane sighed in relief, sliding down the wall a fraction of an inch. He asked, “Will he be okay?”

“It seems so,” Jackson replied with a nod.

Kane smiled and said, “Good, I can’t thank—”

Harper’s head popped into the room and she said, “He’s asking for you, Kane.”

Kane felt the blood drain from his face. “He’s awake?”

“Yeah,” she said, a small smirk on her face. She grabbed his arm and said, “Come on, boss, we’re leaving soon, right? Let him say his peace.”

Kane was pulled from the room by Harper as he glanced over his shoulder at Abby, annoyed to find that she was fighting a laugh. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as Jasper came into view, his eyes wide open and a smile settling on his face as Kane came closer. Kane started to imagine all of the hurtful things Jasper would say: how his injuries were Marcus’ fault, how he blamed him for everything, how they all would be better off without him.

“Thanks, Harper,” Jasper said quietly.

“Anytime,” she said with a smile. She leaned over the bed and kissed his cheek before she walked toward the door. She called over her shoulder, “You had better still be alive when I come back.”

“I’ll try my hardest!” He called, watching her until the doors slid shut behind her. Jasper’s eyes found Kane who stood with fidgeting hands in front of the boy who should have died because of him. Kane took in Jasper’s appearance, noted that the color had returned to his face after being absent for thirteen days and that his cheeks were less gaunt, like he had a hearty meal recently.

Jasper’s eyes were still on him, searching his face. He said, “I wanted to thank you.”

Kane’s mouth fell slack as he looked at him. It was a few seconds before he managed to regain his composure. He asked, “Why?” That was the last thing he expected to come out of his mouth.

Jasper maintained eye contact with Kane who felt the urge to break it. His voice was rich with emotion, something so unlike Jasper that it took Kane by surprise, when he spoke again, “You made sure I got out of there alive. You—”

Kane cut him off, shaking his head. “I nearly got you killed, Jasper. Don’t ever thank me.”

Jasper’s eyes narrowed as he shook his head quickly. “You don’t get it, do you? Pike was going to kill me, you stopped it. He—”

“Pike was going to kill you because of me, Jasper.”

He rolled his eyes before glaring at Kane, half-rising out of bed as he nearly shouted, “This self-deprecating crap is really pissing everyone off, especially me. Pike wanted information, he would have done anything to get it. I’m not having any of this crap from you, not now, not anymore. Take my thanks or don’t — it’s out there, that’s all I need.”

Kane stared at him, eyes wide for a moment before he nodded slowly.

“Good,” Jasper said, sinking back into the pillow. “Now, I need you to promise me something.”

“Anything,” Kane said quietly, staring at the floor.

“Take care of Harper for me,” he said. His voice so full of endearment, Kane felt like he was intruding on a private moment.

“Marcus?” Abby was behind him, leaning against the doorjamb of her office. She was smiling softly when he turned to her. “It is time to go.”

He nodded and walked a few steps forward, touching Jasper’s good shoulder briefly before saying, “I’ll do everything I can for Harper.”

“You’d better — that girl deserves it,” he said quietly. The corner of Kane’s mouth twitched up as he nodded his agreement. He looked at Jasper once more before turning and following Abby out the door.

They walked in silence along the hallway, she absently took his hand but he knew she had been listening. Still, he had to say something. He had to tell her that he had been forgiven. He whispered, “He thanked me, Abby.”

“I heard,” she said with a nod. He glanced at her and found a small smile on her face. “You think you don’t deserve it, Marcus, but you do. You didn’t do any of that to him, you saved him. You saved all of us.”

Kane shook his head. “You saved us, Abby.”

“ _Stop_ ,” she snapped, gripping his hand tight and pulling him to a standstill. He looked down at her, a frown settling on his face. She leaned against the wall behind her and grabbed both of his hands, pulling him closer. His eyes searched her face, finding her lips pressed together in a thin line as she stared down at their hands. She ran her thumbs lightly over the backs of his hands as she whispered, “You are a better man for all of this tragedy. You have learned from it and I need you to stop treating yourself like the man you were on the Ark. Would you ever sentence 320 of our own people to death without their knowledge?”

He shook his head, chin falling to his chest. A heat burned through him as the memory of the Culling flooded his mind.

“Stop acting like him then, accept gratitude when it is given, you idiot.” She said, gripping his hands tightly. His eyes met hers and found a yearning there he saw often when they had disagreements like this one, a longing for him to accept himself for who he truly was now rather than who he used to be.

Abby gripped him by his hip and pulled him to her as her other hand buried itself in his hair, pulling his head down. She rested her forehead against his and whispered, “You are just going to have to get used to this new affection and adoration from the kids, okay? Like it or not, you’ve adopted about ten of them, not including that football-crazed boy who drinks all of our tea.”

He nodded against her forehead and whispered, “Why are you always right?”

“You have to stop saying things like that if you don’t want me to hold it over your head,” she said with a smile. He pulled back slightly to look at her, still amazed that she could ever smile at him like this, that she loved him after everything he had done, that they were raising a child together. He leaned forward and captured her lips with his, gripping her hips tight in his hands. He reveled in the feel of her hands getting lost in his thick hair, of her tongue in his mouth, of her body pressed against his like it was always meant to be there.

“Hey! Enough of that, Lovebirds, you’re in public. Shouldn’t you be leaving?” Kyle Wick asked, walking by with a box in hand. Kane broke from Abby and glared at the engineer. He retorted, “Don’t you have radios to build?”

Wick turned on his heel and walked backward away from them, shaking the box for emphasis. “What do you think this is for, Chancellor? I know Abby’s gorgeous, but have some dignity, man. At least I’m doing my job, go do yours.”

He turned around again, walking away from them with a grin on his face. Kane hid his embarrassment as others started to pass, ignoring the scene that had just transpired as they began their days. Abby tugged on his hand and whispered, “Let’s go.”

He nodded and laced their fingers together as they walked out of Alpha Station. Their group was waiting for them at the patio, packs ready and at their feet. Clarke handed Abby hers and Bellamy gave Kane his. Benja stood between them, holding the straps of his backpack that was already secured on his shoulders, ready to go. He had talked about nothing but Niagara over the past few days, ever since they told him he was going with them. He was practically bouncing with excitement over seeing the Falls.

“Hey, Kane,” Octavia called as she sharpened her sword near the extinguished fire pit. She nodded toward the stables and said, “Penn’s looking for you.”

He nodded and shouldered his pack before kissing Abby’s forehead. He said, “I’ll meet you at the rovers.”

He headed for the stables and noticed Sinclair walking out of Alpha. He waved his hand and Sinclair nodded in acknowledgement. Kane smiled to himself, knowing that the man had his hands full now. He found Penn leaning against one of the stalls, watching camp come to life around him.

Penn clasped his forearm and said, “It is strange to not be going to war with you.”

Kane smiled and said, “You will be missed, but we need you here. I can count on you to protect my people, Penn.”

The Grounder smiled and glanced toward the hulking space station. “I’m honored to have your faith, _Skaihef_.”

“Do you see that man over there?” Kane asked, pointing to the curly haired engineer who was talking with Abby. The Grounder nodded. “That’s Jacopo Sinclair, he’s in charge of Arkadia while I’m gone. You go to him with any problems, okay?”

Penn nodded and clasped Kane’s forearm again. “ _Gouthru klir, ai lukot._ | Safe passage, my friend.”

“ _Ste klir hir, Pen._ | Be safe here, Penn.” Kane said, releasing his arm. The men looked at each other for a moment longer before Kane nodded and walked away.

“ _Kein,”_ Penn whispered. He turned and found Penn looking at him seriously, arms crossed over his chest. _“Nou ge pon klin kom Azgeda. Nou vout in yu na wich emo in._ | Don’t be fooled by Ice Nation. Don’t assume you can trust them."

“ _Ai nou dula gada loda sad klin, ai dula?_ | I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” Kane asked, eyes searching Penn’s face for an answer that wasn’t there.

Penn shrugged, his eyes scanning the camp before settling on Kane again. _“Otaim yu na gada sad klin. Yu na sad nou branwoda klin kom yu kru, Markos. Fou taim gon we snap._ | You always have a choice. Make sure you choose wisely for your people, Marcus. Before it’s too late.”

 

* * *

 

As the rover bumped along the road, Kane took stock of the people surrounding him. They were the six people he cared about most in the world and if Penn’s warning proved true, he was leading them into danger.

Bellamy was at the wheel, Clarke in the passenger’s seat; the two of them were chatting absently about Gina and the breakup that had apparently occurred late last night between the two of them. Kane mentally noted to ask Bellamy about it later — he and Gina had seemed just fine at the fire when he last saw them.

Across from him sat Lincoln and Octavia, alert and ready for anything that might come their way. They always were and Kane admired that about them. Octavia was nothing like she had been on the Ark: timid, quiet, scared for her life. But he figured 16 years of hiding had made her that way. The Ground had freed her and Lincoln had brought out the warrior in her. It was amazing was six months could do for someone, Octavia had changed in so many ways she was almost unrecognizable — she was leader now, someone to look up to. Someone he could rely on and trust with his life.

Benja was to his left, leaning against his side, lost to sleep. The boy had come to mean so much to him in the few short weeks he had been in his life. He could never have guessed that finding him would change his life so much, but it really had. He worried over his safety, wanted him to be happy, hoped he grew up well — it was one of the reasons he couldn’t deny the boy his football games, why he indulged him and watched them together nightly before bed. Abby said that he really was a dad now, but he didn’t feel like it.

Abby sat to his right, reading. Since leaving her second job as chancellor, Abby had been blazing through books. They had a small library growing in their living room, stacking the books in the recesses in the walls. Abby was making their new quarters really feel like home and he found that was yet another thing to love about her. He found new things every day and could fill a novel with everything he loved about the woman seated next to him, lazily turning the pages of _Heart of Darkness_ as she rested her head against his shoulder.

 

 

It was a seven hour ride to Niagara and they had barely crossed the border into Ice Nation, meaning they still had another five hours. Music softly placed from an iPod salvaged from Mount Weather and Kane let himself get lost to the music, some rock group from the early 21st Century.

His mind was forced on high alert though when the rover lurched to a stop. He shared a look with Abby before he rose from his seat and peeked his head between Bellamy and Clarke. He asked, “What’s going on?”

“No idea, sir. Rover 1 stopped,” Bellamy said, nodding through the windshield. Kane stared through the glass and watched as Roan exited the rover, walking toward the front.

“Everyone stay here,” Kane said, walking to the door. He grabbed his gun from his bag as he went and checked the magazine before he pushed open the door and hopped out. He walked north, toward Roan, and found that he wasn’t alone.

A woman sat astride a horse covered in white war paint. She was speaking with Roan and stopped short when she saw him. Roan glanced over his shoulder and, upon seeing Kane, said, “ _En’s ogud, em laik lukot._ | It’s okay, he’s a friend.”

The woman spat, _“Em laik Skaikru. Em laik baga, Haihefa._ | He’s a Sky Person. He’s the enemy, King.”

 _“Nou mou, oso throu daun ogeda. Ontari laik baga, Bri._ | Enough, we fight together. Ontari is the enemy, Bri.” Roan said gruffly. The woman eyed him hard before she whistled.

“ _Osir lid yu in honon_ | We bring you captives,” Bri said, nodding toward the trees. A man walked out, pulling two blindfolded teenagers.

 _“Chit dison bilaik?_ | What is this?” Kane asked, pointing his finger between the two prisoners.

“Thieves on my land,” Roan said, glancing at Kane. “Bri and Lington are to be rewarded for the heads of these two.” He looked at the two bounty hunters and said, “ _Teik emo gon nila. Teik emo ai omo wamplei op._ | Put them on their knees. Let them see their deaths.”

Bri swung down from her horse and took hold of the female prisoner. Lington tore the blindfold from the boy’s head and Kane exhaled a sharp breath. Bri took the blindfold off the girl but Kane didn’t recognize her; from the tattoo on her face, he assumed she was a Grounder. He turned his attention back to the boy and their eyes met.

 _“Breik em au!_ | Free him!” Kane said, eyes wide.

“Do you know him?” Roan asked, amusement dancing on his face. Kane nodded.

“The boy is one of my people,” he replied, finally looking away from the delinquent and meeting the king’s eyes. Roan was studying him and continued to do so for nearly a minute.

He turned to the bounty hunters and said, “ _Yo don sen Chansla in, breik emo au._ | You heard the Chancellor, free them.”

“ _Ba—_ | But—” Lington began to protest. His words died when Roan shot him a glare and spat, “ _Ai laik yu Haihefa, dula kom ai biyo!_ | I am your king, do as I say!”

Bri and Lington released the bonds holding the prisoners’ hands behind their backs. The two rubbed their wrists and John Murphy glanced at the bounty hunters before he looked at Kane again. He said coldly, “I didn’t need your help.”

“It looks like you did,” Kane said, beckoning him over. “You’re just in time, Mr. Murphy, we could use you.”

Murphy raised an eyebrow at him and glanced at his Grounder friend. “That’s rich, coming from the guy who helped send me to this hellhole in the first place.”

Kane grinned sadly at the boy as he said, “Mr. Murphy, we are going to war with half of Ice Nation. We could use your skill — if you’ll have us, that is.”

Murphy stared at him for nearly a minute before he took off toward the rovers, his friend following. He called over his shoulder, “I don’t have anything better to do. This had better not get me killed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated! :)
> 
> After that episode, I needed to write. So it's 4:30am here and I've finally finished the chapter. I'm so happy to bring Murphy into the fic because he's such a great character! I hope you guys like him joining the story!
> 
> -Lauren


	3. Kom Azkapa Op

_“There’s nothing simple about this.”_

— Marcus Kane, “Watch the Thrones”

 

* * *

 

The back door of the rover opened and everyone looked at the new additions to their group. Abby’s eyes met Octavia’s as John Murphy climbed into the rover. Bellamy and Clarke were talking in low voices in the front as they watched him. A Grounder girl stood outside, looking around the confines of the rover. Her eyes fell on Benja and a curiosity took over her face. The boy scooted closer to Abby and took her hand.

“Who’s the kid?” Murphy asked as he sat next to Octavia. He patted the seat next to him and the girl climbed in and sat down. Kane pulled himself into the rover, Abby tried not to see the pain on his face, she tried not to let it bother her.

He should have been better by now, but he never slowed down, he didn’t rest enough to give his body the time it needed to heal. She saw new bruises on him every day from the training sessions with the Grounders, she knew he hadn’t been taking it easy like she had told him to. She knew he never would. If he did, he wouldn’t be Marcus Kane.

He shut the door behind him before sitting next to Benja. A smile tugged at Kane’s lips, erasing the pain that had been there, as he replied, “He’s ours.”

“Ours?” Murphy asked, a smirk on his face as he looked between Kane and Abby. Murphy glanced at Octavia who shared his smirk as she looked at the floor, he jabbed his thumb in their direction as he asked her, “So these two finally—”

“That’s enough, Mr. Murphy,” Kane snapped, glaring at him.

The smirk didn’t disappear as John Murphy pressed, “I’m no expert on human reproduction, but that seems a little fast and he seems a little old.”

“Funny,” Kane said, eyes narrowing. He sighed and ran a hand over his weary face before he asked, “Where have you been, John? Where’s Thelonious?”

Murphy shared a look with the Grounder girl before meeting Kane’s eyes as the rover took off again. “Jaha and I had some disagreements about our destination.”

“Meaning?” Abby pressed when Murphy fell silent.

“Meaning the guy went crazy, okay?” He said simply. Abby and Kane glanced at each other; they both knew that Thelonious hadn’t exactly been stable in his final days at Arkadia (then Camp Jaha), but they hadn’t expected anything like this when they finally heard something about him again.

Murphy continued, “He locked me in a bunker for three months and claimed he was doing me a favor. He’s obsessed with the City of Light, but it’s not real. He took some damn chip and thinks he’s a god now. He tried to get me to take it too, but I’m too smart for that.”

“What’s the City of Light?” Clarke asked from the front, turning in her seat to look at him.

“Hello to you too, Princess,” Murphy mumbled as he looked at her. “I don’t really know. Jaha meditates and he comes back all _enlightened_. He thinks he’s going to save the world with his AI friend.”

He was met with several blank stares. Murphy sighed before continuing, “There’s this chick, a lady in red, she controls the show. She’s the one who ended the world a hundred years ago.”

A deafening hush fell over the rover as they bumped along the uneven road. Abby wondered what had changed for Thelonious, it couldn’t have been Wells’ death. She thought he had accepted it, but she knew that if Clarke died, she would never be okay. She would go on, yes, but there would always be a pain in her heart that could never be sated. Was the City of Light Thelonious’ way of taking away the pain?

“Everyone in the Dead Zone searches for the City of Light,” the Grounder girl said quietly. Everyone looked at her. She met Kane’s eyes, understanding that he was their leader, as she said, “I’m Emori, by the way; John has a problem with his manners.” She looked fondly at the boy before meeting Kane’s eyes again. “Jaha took my brother into the City of Light and he…changed. He was willing to hurt me to get what he wanted. Otan would never do that.”

“Thelonious said he was coming back to save us all,” Abby said, looking at Kane though she spoke to everyone. His face was hard and she could see the wheels turning in his head, formulating a plan of action. 

“Yeah, well, it’s not saving in my opinion,” Murphy said quietly.

“What is it then?” Octavia asked, frowning as she looked at him.

His eyes met hers as he said quietly, “It’s mind control.”

 

* * *

 

The rovers came to a stop at Niagara’s city limits. As everyone ambled out of the rover, Kane walked to the radio and went to press the button but Abby called, “What are you doing?”

“I’ll meet you outside,” he said quietly. She looked at him curiously, but followed Benja out. He pressed the button and called, “Arkadia, this is Rover 2, come in Arkadia.”

He was met with static for a moment before he heard, “ _Rover 2, this is Arkadia. Is there a problem, Chancellor?”_

He brought the receiver to his mouth and pressed the button as he replied, “Gina?”

 _“Yeah, no one else was free to man the radio. I guess that’s what you get when you’re just a grunt, huh?”_ She sounded so indignant.

“You’re not just a grunt, Gina,” Kane said quietly. He could feel the girl’s skepticism through the radio, like it was the static itself that crackled as he awaited a response. When she didn’t give one, he pressed the button on the receiver and said, “I’m sorry about Bellamy.”

It was quiet on the other end before she whispered, _“I don’t need your sympathy, Kane. What do you want?”_

“I need you to tell Sinclair something for me,” he said, moving passed her apparent brushoff. “Tell him to put Thelonious Jaha in the stockade if he comes to camp.”

_“Why?”_

“Just trust me, Gina,” he replied. “You don’t want him loose in camp.”

 _“Okay…”_ she said and he knew he had lost her interest. _“If that’s all—”_

“Gina,” he said quietly into the receiver. He paused, trying to formulate the words in a way that would make her actually listen. Finally, he said, “If you need to talk — ever, about anything — I’ll have the portable radio on me at all times.”

It was silent on the other end and he thought she had left. But her voice crackled through the receiver after nearly a minute, _“Isn’t the signal on those things shit?”_

Kane smiled and replied, “Wick and Mel worked on the tower and they’ve been fixing the radios, strengthening them.” Almost as an afterthought, he said, “They’ve been building a few new ones, you could have your own if you wanted. So you don’t have to use this one. Tell them I sent you.”

 _“Thanks, Kane,_ ” she replied after a moment’s silence. He smiled and hung up the receiver on the radio.

“What was that about?” Abby asked quietly as he emerged from the rover. He placed his hand on the small of her back as everyone looked at him and he whispered, “I’ll tell you later, just trust me.”

She smiled and nodded. “I always do.”

He couldn’t stop the smile as it passed over his lips. It faltered when Roan barked, _“Chit hodon bilaik, Chansla?_ | What’s the delay, Chancellor?”

 _“Nou diyo_ | Nothing,” he said, motioning for Roan to lead the way. The king stared at him hard for a moment before he started toward the tree line.

The twenty-three of them set off down the path that led into the city. Benja walked next to Roan, asking him about the Falls and, to Kane’s surprise, Roan told him everything he wanted to know. Abby and Clarke walked just behind them, talking to each other in low voices. He wondered if Clarke knew she was the reason Bellamy had broken up with Gina, he wondered if that was what the two Griffin women were talking about so secretively.

“You went full native,” John Murphy commented, falling into step with him. “I didn’t see that coming.”

“Why is it so surprising?” Kane asked, tearing his gaze away from his family to look at the former delinquent.

“You locked me up, twice,” Murphy said dryly. “You’re not exactly a man of peace.”

“You set fire to a guard’s quarters!” Kane shot a glare at him. He was learning that the boy had a way of getting under his skin in an unsettling way. “And you were involved in an altercation the second time—”

“Always by the book, huh?” Murphy asked with a smirk on his face. “Now look at you, a family man — it’s laughable, _Chancellor_. What makes you more deserving of a family than the rest of us after everything you’ve done?”

“Lay off, Murphy,” Nate Miller spat, walking nearby with Harper. “The guy had a lot of us arrested, but you don’t see us bitching about it still.”

“It’s not like you were ever going to be floated for your crime, Miller, with your dad as chief guard.” Murphy snapped. Nate stopped in his tracks and Bryan glanced back at him, slowing, looking like he wanted to provide some sort of comfort though he knew it wasn’t his place anymore. Their eyes met, but Nate looked away quickly and stalked off. Harper shot Murphy a glare before hurrying after him. Murphy glanced at Kane and asked, “Something I said?”

“His dad was killed two weeks ago,” Kane said, his eyes on John Murphy though he wasn’t really seeing him. He was seeing David Miller’s final moments, remembering how their eyes had met just before Pike raised the gun to his temple. Pike had asked him for any last words, something he hadn’t allowed Gabriella Sinclair, and Miller had asked exactly what Kane expected: _Look after Nate_.

“Shit,” Murphy mumbled, his gaze shifting to meet Nate’s back. 

Kane looked hard at the boy as he said, “A word of advice, Mr. Murphy: don’t be such an asshole.”

Murphy smirked and was about to retort when Benja shouted from ahead, yelling for Kane. He gave Murphy one last look before walking swiftly toward his son. They had been walking through too many crumbling buildings to count, some with curious faces in the blown out windows — clearly they were used as housing now for Ice Nation. But the buildings stopped abruptly and a bridge stood before them. Across the river, he could see dozens of buildings in better shape than the ones on this side.

Benja grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the bridge, not stopping until they were halfway across. They stared at the Falls, the others slowly catching up to them. Kane’s eyes couldn’t keep still as he took in the boats bobbing in the water, tethered to shore, the small waterfall to their left, and the much larger one straight ahead.

“It’s beautiful,” Abby commented as she stood next to him. “I didn’t expect this of Ice Nation.”

He nodded.

“Roan said we’re staying there,” Clarke said as she leaned against the railing on Abby’s other side, pointing toward a tall building next to the Falls. “That’s his tower. It used to be a place people paid to stay on visits. Imagine how expensive that was, good thing it’s free for us.”

Kane glanced at her before staring at the building. “Don’t think this isn’t going to cost us anything, Clarke.”

 

* * *

 

Roan’s tower was called Arrio, after the large letters placed along the rooftop. There were dark marks where others letters had been, he assumed the name of the hotel. He told them the numbers to the rooms they were allocated, before he disappeared into the tower.

“Kane, can I talk to you?” Clarke asked, grabbing ahold of his arm as he headed for the door leading into the tower. He glanced at the group heading inside before he met her eyes again and nodded. She asked, “What’s the plan?”

His brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what are we doing here?” She asked. “Ontari’s not _._ Shouldn’t we be where she is? Stopping her?”

“It’s not that simple,” he said, shaking his head. “Lexa and the others will stop her from doing too much damage in the South. She’ll be herded here and we’ll be waiting. It all leads to Niagara, Clarke.”

“It makes no sense,” Clarke argued, her brows knitting together. “Why would Ontari return here? She wants the Coalition, she wants _our_ _people_ dead. That’s all hundreds of miles south of here!”

“Clarke, don’t act like you know anything about keeping people alive! This is what’s best for our people!” He spat. He felt a coldness spread through his chest and his chin dropped to his chest as he released a breath. “I…I didn’t mean that, Clarke. I—”

“It’s fine, Kane,” she said, blinking back tears.

“Marcus, are you coming?” Abby called, standing at the door with Benja. From the look on her face, he knew she had heard him. He ran his hand along his jaw and called, “I’ll meet you up there.”

She nodded and looked at him with that same wide eyed stare before she led Benja into the tower. Kane ran a hand through his hair before he met Clarke’s eyes again and found the tears collecting in the corners, threatening to spill over any second. He breathed, “Clarke—”

“Don’t, Kane,” she interrupted. She shook her head as she stared at the ground. “You’re right, I don’t know anything about keeping people alive. All I do is kill people.”

He watched as the tears slipped down her cheeks. His arms were wrapped tightly around her before he could stop himself and, to his surprise, she hugged him back, burying her face in his shoulder. He stroked her hair as he whispered, “Hey, you did what you had to do. That’s all we can ever do, okay? It’s not easy being the leader, is it?”

She shook her head and tightened her grip on him. Kane softly ran his hand over her hair, listening to her breaths slow, knew her tears were subsiding. Finally, she said quietly, “Can I ask you something?”

He nodded.

“Why did being apart of Pike’s punishment bother you so much?” She whispered against his shirt. He stiffened in her arms and she pulled back to look at his face. He couldn’t meet her eyes.

“Clarke, it’s…complicated,” he whispered, looking at the ground as he pulled away from her. She gripped his hand in hers and he finally met her eyes. He sighed, seeing the determination there. She was so much like her mother, it was unnerving. “He used be my friend. I took no pleasure in what I had to do.”

“My mom said that you don’t like what you have to do to keep us safe,” she said quietly. “Do you not like this plan? Siding with Azgeda?”

He shrugged. “I would rather keep us out of a war we have nothing to do with.”

 

 

“What was that with Clarke?” Abby asked as soon as the door shut behind him. She had been pacing, waiting for him to arrive. He glanced at her but didn’t respond. He walked toward the blown out windows, making sure not to get too close. They were floor to ceiling, spanning the whole two stories their room was. Wind whipped through them and brought a chill to the room, but there was a fireplace and a pile of logs at their disposal.

He slipped his backpack off his shoulders and tossed it onto the nearest chair before he crossed his arms over his chest and looked out the windows. They had a view of the large waterfall and it would have been spectacular if he couldn’t feel the anger rolling off of Abby as she stalked toward him.

“Marcus,” she snapped, grabbing his arm and pulling him around to look at her. “You can’t talk to my daughter that way.”

“What way? I was telling her the truth,” he said quietly, too worn out to fight.

“Clarke is not stupid!” Abby spat, squeezing his arm tighter. “She knows what war costs.”

“That is _not_ what we were arguing about,” he said sharply. His face softened as he replied, “She’s a smart kid, Abby. She’s very opinionated, like her mother.”

Abby stared at him hard for a few more moments before her face warmed and she took a step toward him. “It’s important to me that she likes you. For now, she does — I don’t want you to screw that up.”

He smiled and pulled her against him. “How would I screw it up?”

She leaned her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around him as she whispered, “I’m sure you could think of something, you idiot.”

He chuckled quietly and nodded. He pulled away from her as he said, “Probably, I’m great at messing things up.”

She balked. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

He grinned as he glanced over his shoulder at her, picking up his backpack from the chair. “I know, Abby.”

He shouldered his pack and started up the stairs to their bedroom. She called, “What are you doing?”

“Laying down, I’m tired,” he said, his eyes meeting the large bed that awaited. “You could join, it’s hours until dinner at sundown.”

He fought the smile as he heard her feet on the stairs a second later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated! :)
> 
> -Lauren
> 
> P.S. The first chapter of my Kabby Modern AU is up. Go check it out if you want! It's "Be Here Now."
> 
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/6904480/chapters/15752758


	4. Logistics

_“We’re in this together.”_

— Marcus Kane, “Ye Who Enter Here”

 

* * *

  

Abby smiled as she found him already undressing when she reached the top of the steps. His boots lay discarded near the stairs, his jacket hanging over the railing. She pulled her jacket off and draped it over his before crossing the room to him. Her hands gripped his hips, turning him to her.

He smirked down at her and said, “I’m napping, Abby. I don’t know what you think is going to happen, but—”

“Shut up, Marcus,” she snapped as she pressed herself against him. Her hands slipped into his hair, pulling his lips to hers. He was still against her for a moment, trying to hold onto any resolve he had, but he gave in when she let out a disgruntled huff. He smiled against her lips as he cradled her jaw. His tongue slid into her mouth and he pulled her along by her hips as he walked backwards toward the bed.

They hadn’t been alone like this since Polis. When Ayvi, a handmaiden of sorts, had shown them to their rooms, Abby was surprised when she first showed Benja to the room he would share with Clarke then led Abby to one just down the hall. She had fully expected to be with the kids and she never expected to have such a grand room for just the two of them.

His knees hit the edge of the bed and he fell clumsily against the mattress. Abby’s hand went to her mouth, hiding the smile as he looked up at her like he had meant to do that. She pulled her shirt over her head, flushing when she met the hungry glint in his eyes. He had the affect on her though — he made her feel like she was the most beautiful woman in the world, like she was the only thing that mattered.

He sat up and held his hand out to her. She took it and climbed onto the bed with him, straddling his hips. She met him with a hungry kiss, her tongue parting his lips and finding a desperate need inside his mouth. She tugged at his shirt and he helped her pull it over his head. She kissed along his neck as her hand went to the button of his jeans, then the zipper. She was grasping him a moment later, slowly stroking him in her hand.

“Are you trying to fuck away our problems?” Kane asked, his nails digging into her hips.

Her lips stilled on his neck and she pulled away, looking at him. She shook her head. “I told you before, you can’t fuck anything away. I just want to forget for a little while.”

He nodded slowly, eyes searching her face for a moment before he leaned forward and kissed her hard. He reached down and shoved his pants and underwear down his legs. He unbuttoned her pants and tossed them on the floor a moment later. Once her bra was gone, he looked at her; Abby smiled at him, letting him take his time, reacquainting himself with her body. His hands slid along her skin, pulling her to him as he leaned back. She slid onto him, stifling a moan in his shoulder.

Neither one of them lasted very long — it had been nearly two weeks since they last properly had sex, not since that early morning in Polis before Pike’s execution. It felt like a lifetime ago, so much had changed already. It was hard to find time for each other when they were busy planning a war.

Marcus clutched desperately at Abby’s back as she rode him. Her arms were wrapped around him, her hands buried in his hair, holding his head to her chest as she cried out. He bit the skin there, trying to silence his own moans, but it was useless.

Sweaty and sated, Abby rolled off of him. She didn’t stray far and he wrapped his arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder and absently ran her fingers over his chest. He pressed a light kiss to her forehead before whispering, “Now can I nap?”

Abby rolled her eyes and curled herself around him. Her eyes drifted shut as she whispered, “I guess you’ve earned it.”

 

* * *

 

His eyes opened at the sound of a knock. Abby groaned in his arms, rolling away from him and burying her face in the pillow. He knew she wasn’t answering the door. He slid out of bed and quickly dressed. He ran a hand through his messy hair as he walked down the stairs.

A young man with scarring on his face stood patiently on the other side of thedoor. Kane asked, “Can I help you?”

The warrior said, “My name is Flint, I’m to escort you to the King, Chancellor.”

Kane nodded and said, “Could you give me a second?”

The man nodded and Kane left the door open as he walked toward the stairs. Abby still lay face-down in the pillow, the blanket around her hips. He leaned down and kissed the exposed flesh of her back. She turned and looked up at him sleepily. She whispered, “Who’s down there?”

He shrugged. “Some Ice Nation warrior; I’m to meet with Roan.”

She grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him down, her lips pressed against his for a moment. She whispered in his ear, “Be careful.”

 

Flint took him to a throne room on a lower floor. The Ice Throne was in an alcove, backed against a floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked the large Fall. Roan stood near it but didn’t sit on it. His eyes were trained on the door and they met Kane’s the second he walked in.

 _“Chansla Kein, Haihefa_ | Chancellor Kane, my king,” Flint said.

Roan nodded and said, “ _Konge ostof._ | Fetch the others.”

“What others?” Kane asked, turning in time to see Flint shut the doors behind him. He couldn’t help but feel that the shutting of the doors was the signaling of his fate — he was committed to backing Roan and his Ice Nation army, he was committed to this war.

“The leaders I need to speak with,” Roan said, folding his arms behind his back.

“And what exactly are we doing?” Kane asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“We’re to discuss the real reason I need Skaikru in my army,” Roan said, his eyes scanning Kane for a reaction. He didn’t get one — Kane face was expressionless, well practiced from his days on the Ark and easy to slip back into.

“Don’t like your throne?” Kane asked, changing tactics and nodding toward the chair Roan seemed reluctant to sit in.

His eyes narrowed as he studied Kane. He replied, “You can’t rule from a seat.”

“Yet you hold a meeting in its room,” Kane said, walking toward it. He glanced over his shoulder at the king. “Do you not feel like a king?”

“Do you not feel like a chancellor?” Roan challenged. Kane stopped in his tracks and turned toward the man. Roan had a smirk on his face though and said, “It’s hard to feel in power when your people are at war with each other, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “It is. But unity does come.”

“With a price,” Roan said solemnly. Kane nodded slowly, looking at the floor in front of Roan’s feet.

The door opened a minute later and Flint walked in with Jack Scanlan, Aidan Helm, Bellamy Blake, and two Grounder warriors. Scanlan and Helm looked at Kane, brows furrowed, before glancing at each other. Bellamy walked straight to him and whispered, “I don’t like this, sir.”

Kane whispered, “We should hear him out.”

Bellamy nodded but crossed his arms over his chest and gave the king a hard look, waiting for an explanation. Kane stood at his side, Scanlan and Helm joined them a few seconds later. Roan didn’t wait for the doors to be shut by Flint before beginning.

“I never intended for Skaikru to wait here for Ontari’s army. I will not have my city devastated by her,” Roan said, his voice booming through the small room. Kane glanced at Bellamy, seeing his fists balled under his arms. Roan continued, “I want to split up the Skaikru guard, send you to two of my nearby villages that are in Ontari’s path. That is where we will stop her.”

“Why couldn’t we have just stopped her at home?” Helm asked. “Why travel hundreds of miles?”

“Our villages will likely suffer mass casualties,” the female warrior said harshly, glaring at him. “We’ve accepted it, you Skaikru at too _weak_ to take the amount of death that awaits our people.”

Roan held up his hand and the woman quieted. “Elli is right, Arkadia would have been flattened by Ontari’s army. This was the only way to save your people, again. I want half of your guard at each village, protecting the gates at all times.”

His eyes were on Kane as he spoke, as were the two warriors — Elli’s and the man’s. All he could do was nod. They had no choice but to help Ice Nation.

“Marcus, you will be in charge of the group at Tonawa with Erie. Scanlan, you will do the same with Elli at Buffalo. You leave in the morning,” Roan said in the form of a dismissal, but Kane had so many questions. Elli and Erie left the room without another look at the four men.

Once the door shut behind the two chiefs, Kane asked, “That’s all you want us to do? Stand guard?”

“And train anyone who wants to learn on your weaponry,” Roan said after a moment’s thought.

“I thought Grounders—”

“Never pick up a gun for fear of the Mountain Men wiping out their people, yes.” Roan replied stiffly. “The Mountain Men are gone, Kane; Clarke made sure of that. We must arm ourselves if we are to win, my people know that.”

 

* * *

 

“Damn,” Nate muttered, eyes widening as the doors of the yellow elevator slid open. It had been a slow, hand-operated ride to the top of Skylon where they were having dinner, but it was worth it.

Benja ran to the windows, his eyes darting everywhere, taking in the city and the Falls. Kane glanced at Abby and found her watching the boy with a fond smile on her face. She looked at him, feeling his gaze, and took his hand. She leaned over to whisper in his ear, “He gets that from you.”

“I’m not like that,” Kane protested with a roll of his eyes as they started toward the stairs.

“Do you remember seeing Polis for the first time?” She nodded at Benja as he ran out of sight to check out another view. “That was you.”

The corner of his mouth quirked up as he replied, “If you say so.”

She smiled and called over her shoulder, “Come on, Ben.”

“But—”

“I’m sure there’s a better view from up there, son,” Kane said. Benja ran passed them, barreling up the stairs toward the upper levels. Abby shot Kane a glare and asked, “Why do you always get to be the fun one?”

“Because I’m the dad,” he said, grinning. She pulled her hand out of his, walking faster up the stairs. He smirked and followed them.

Several large tables were situated across the room in front of the windows that overlooked the large Fall. Dozens of Grounders were in the room, all holding cups and drinking from them lengthily as they conversed. Some of the conversations stopped at the arrival of the Sky People, but most seemed to have accepted that they were helping. Kane recognized Erie from earlier, he nodded at the chief who smiled and grabbed an extra mug.

“Try not to get into trouble,” Kane said to the others behind him, looking at each face, his eyes lingering on Murphy and Nate’s for a moment longer than anyone else’s. He crossed the room to meet Erie halfway.

The chief of Tonawa handed Kane the mug and motioned to Abby and Benja who stood at the far bank of windows. _“Yu seingeda?_ | Your family?”

Kane nodded.

 _“Seintaim strikon?_ | Even the little one?” Erie asked, studying him over his mug as he raised it to his lips.

 _“Nou kom jus_ | Not by blood,” Kane replied, glancing at Benja as he pointed to something in the distance. Abby squinted to see what it was in the evening light, he could tell she couldn’t see whatever it was. But she nodded, acting like she saw it.

 _“Eni yongon oyu?_ | Any children of your own?”

 _“Non kom jus. Tona, nami_ | None by blood. Too many to count, though,” Kane said with a small smile as he turned away from Abby and Benja to look at the chief again. “ _En yu seingeda?_ | And your family?”

The man smiled and said, _“Houmon, tu skat, en won gada._ | A wife, two boys, and one girl.”

Kane nodded. _“Skat ste tofon, nami?_ | Boys are difficult, yeah?”

 _“Gada laik mou krei_ | Girls are more so,” Erie said with a small laugh. He took a drink from his mug and Kane followed suit. The alcohol burned his throat and he fought not to choke on the liquid. Erie smirked at the redness creeping up Kane’s face and said, “Stronger than you are used to, I’m sure.”

“Only a little,” Kane said. But in truth, Ark moonshine was water compared to this. Whatever this was burned his throat the whole way down and sat in his stomach like fire.

They sat down a few minutes later and servants brought out the food. Kane sat with Erie and the chief spent the whole meal telling him about Tonawa. His village had over 500 citizens and was recovering from a harsh winter. He apologized in advance for the primitive nature of the village at the moment due to the loss of many of their structures, collapsed under the weight of the heavy snow.

“We grew up in a tin can in space, give us fresh air and we will be fine,” Kane replied, as a servant filled up his mug for the third time. His mind felt muddled and he barely registered Erie’s light laugh.

The chief smiled as he stood from the table and said, “I will see you bright and early, my new friend.”

Kane nodded and watched him walk toward a group of Grounders gathering across the room. Nate, Harper, Octavia, and Lincoln were at the window near them, talking loudly and gaining the attention of some of the warriors. He hoped they would heed his advice and stay out of trouble; Nate had a proclivity for stirring up something though.

He stood from the table and grabbed the mug. He felt Abby’s hand on his arm, no doubt telling him to slow down. He glanced at her, but found that she was using him to stand.

She met his eyes and asked, “What is this stuff?”

“I think it is liquid fire,” he replied, staring down into the mug in his hand. She took a long pull of hers before nodding.

She leaned against his side and he wrapped his arm instinctively around her as she said, “I think you are right.”

“God, you’re drunk,” he commented, glancing down at her. Her eyes met his chest and slowly raised to meet his eyes, barely a question there but he still answered it. “You said I was right.”

“You have your moments,” she replied, raising the mug to her lips with her eyes trained on his. He saw the spark of lust ignite within the brown and felt warmth spread throughout his body that had nothing to do with the alcohol.

 _“Markos, Abi! Mebi osir gyon op?_ | Marcus, Abby! Can we go up?” Benja asked, running over to them, dragging Clarke along by the hand.

Kane tore his eyes from Abby to look at the boy. He nodded and Benja grinned before tugging Clarke toward the stairs. Abby called her daughter back, pulling herself away from Kane and walking toward her. He watched them talk for a moment before Abby returned to him and Clarke went with Benja who was waiting not-so-patiently by the stairs.

Abby took Marcus’ hand and whispered, “She’s going to watch him all night. Let’s go.”

His eyebrow rose as she led him toward the stairs, a smirk pulling at his lips. She rolled her eyes at his look and said, “Shut up.”

It only made him grin more and he whispered, “We should steal some of that alcohol.”

Her eyes widened for the briefest of moments, considering it. Ultimately, she shook her head and replied, “We’re already going to be too hungover in the morning.”

“ _Abby_ ,” he pleaded, gripping her by the hips and pressing her suddenly against the wall in the deserted stairwell. He looked down at her hungrily before his lips crashed against hers, his tongue parting them and diving into her mouth. Her hands found his hair almost immediately, relishing in the feeling of it under her fingertips. As his tongue glided over hers, he could feel her resolve breaking, feel her giving in to his idea.

“Hey, Kane!” Bellamy called, his footfalls echoing in the empty stairwell. Kane groaned and pulled away from Abby. “Glad I caught you.” Kane glared at him and Bellamy clarified, “Before you left, I mean.”

“What is it, son?” Kane asked, trying to sound like the leader he was but he knew he failed miserably.

Bellamy fought a smirk as he replied, “We should discuss who’s going to which village. Scanlan and Helm are waiting upstairs.”

Kane nodded. “Fine.”

Bellamy started back up the stairs, going slow to give him time to catch up. Abby leaned up and kissed his cheek. She whispered, “Don’t take too long. Or I might steal a bottle while I wait.”

“I’ll take my time then,” he said with a grin.

Scanlan and Helm sat in the center of the room, not taking in the views at all. Bellamy led Kane to them and sat down. He offered Kane a mug of the Grounder alcohol, which Marcus accepted. The chancellor said, “Who do you two want in Buffalo?”

“I know who I don’t want. I’m not watching over that Murphy kid, I saw what he did to Cooper’s quarters on the Ark.” Scanlan said, glaring across the room at Murphy who had been talking quietly with Emori all night.

Kane nodded. “I already planned on taking John.”

“Octavia’s coming with us,” Bellamy said quietly.

“That means Lincoln by default, too,” Helm said, nodding slowly. “We want Costa…”

The whole process felt a lot like picking favorites; it was almost wrong, not giving the rest of the guard any input into where they were going, but Kane didn’t feel like gathering the whole squad and hashing out the logistics of it. Not when Abby was waiting for him. In the end, it was decided that Kane and Bellamy would be taking Clarke, Lincoln, Octavia, Harper, Miller, Murphy, and Nelson with them to Tonawa, as well as Abby, Benja, and Emori. Scanlan and Helm got the rest for Buffalo.

“Anything else?” Kane asked, already standing from his seat.

Bellamy shook his head and replied, “Thanks for your time, Chancellor. I know you would rather have been elsewhere.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated! You guys are the best. :)
> 
> -Lauren


	5. Tonawa

_“They think that because we came from the sky, we don’t belong here.”_

— Bellamy Blake, “We Are Grounders (Part 1)”

 

* * *

 

Her head throbbed dully when she woke to the sound of a knock at the door. She opened her eyes, meeting the harsh light of the sunrise. She snapped them shut and pressed her face into Marcus’ neck, running her hand up his chest to shake his shoulder. He stirred under her, groaning something about _five more minutes_. She pressed a light kiss to his neck and whispered, “There’s someone at the door.”

“I answered it yesterday,” he mumbled, running his hand over her back, causing her to shiver against him. “It’s your turn.”

Abby leaned up as another knock sounded. Her lips found his and she murmured against them, “You owe me.”

His eyes opened, a decision he seemed to regret immediately as he squinted and groaned. “For what?”

“I stole that bottle,” she said, pressing her naked body against his, reminding him of one of the perks of stealing the Grounder alcohol.

“And I’m paying for it now. Get the door, Abby,” he said, shoving her off of him so he could roll over and bury his face in the pillow.

“When did you stop being fun?” She asked as she rose unsteadily to her feet.

He laughed into the pillow. “I never started.”

She smiled as she walked toward the stairs. It looked like a tornado had hit the room. Their clothes were everywhere — draped over the railing, strewn over the stairs. Abby remembered them barely making it through the door before they attacked each other the night before.

She paused at the top stair, taking in the sunrise over the Fall. It was a shame that they got less than a day in Niagara; she would have liked to see more of it. She started down the stairs but was halted when Marcus called out to her.

He still lay on his stomach with his arms buried under the pillow, but his head was resting on his arm so he could look at her. He said, “You know I love seeing you naked, but I think it may be more appropriate for you to have some clothes on when you answer the door.”

“Don’t want me to give whoever is there a show?” She asked, bending down to pick up his shirt.

He smiled as he said, “What if it’s Clarke?”

“I think she knows we have sex,” she said, pulling the shirt on. Her head emerged and she saw a smirk on his face. She raised her eyebrow at him as another knock echoed through the room.

“She’s asked me about it at length before,” he said simply.

“What—”

“Answer the damn door, Abby,” he said, turning back into the pillow. She scowled, determined to finish the conversation, but hurried down the stairs to find out who was so insistent on getting into their room.

It wasn’t Clarke, but Bellamy waiting when she opened the door. He held two empty mugs and a large metal pitcher in his hands. His eyes flicked down her body in the quickest of movements and Abby realized that she probably should have put on pants or at the very least underwear — Marcus’ shirt barely touched her thighs.

If he thought her attire was inappropriate, he didn’t say a thing. He held out a mug to her and she took it, letting him fill it with whatever he had brought with him. She drank it without question and was relieved to find it was a gingery green tea — hangover cure.

“I thought you two would be feeling less than ideal this morning,” Bellamy said, refilling her mug. “I hear a bottle of Fayawoda went missing last night.”

“Oh?” She asked, raising the mug to her lips to take another long drink.

“You wouldn’t happen to know who took it, would you?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. She shook her head. He smiled as he handed her the other mug and pitcher of tea. “We’re leaving in half an hour, make sure that our esteemed chancellor is somewhat functioning. Let him know I’m not above sending Benja in to wake him up — that boy’s already bouncing off the walls.”

He turned to leave but paused and said over his shoulder, “Oh and if there is any incriminating evidence in this room, I would take it with you. The Grounders are a little pissed that the bottle went missing.”

Abby shut the door as he walked down the hallway and returned to Marcus. She set the mugs and pitcher on the side table before sitting on the bed. She ran her hand gently over his back and said, “Marcus? We have to get ready to leave.”

He shook his head.

“Do you want Ben to come in and wake you up? He would be more than happy to jump all over this bed,” Abby said, tickling his side. He squirmed and mumbled, “You are evil, woman.”

“Blame Bellamy, it was his idea.” She said with a smile.

“I don’t want Benja in here,” he muttered as he rolled over and looked at her. “We’ve defiled this room.”

She pursed her lips, fighting a smile, as she reached over and filled both of the mugs. She turned toward him with the mugs in her hands and offered one to him. He sat up in the bed and took it. He looked at its contents as he asked, “What is this?”

“Bellamy figured we drank too much Fayawoda last night,” she said, raising her mug to her lips.

“Is that what it’s called?” He asked, frowning. “That makes so much more sense now.”

They drank in silence, finished off the pitcher before either of them started to feel better. Abby glanced at her watch and said, “We have twenty minutes, we should clean this place up.”

_“You_ should clean this place up,” he muttered, sinking back into the blankets and pillow. “I didn’t steal the bottle of Fayawoda.”

“Yet you drank most of it,” she said, pulling the blankets away from him. His eyes flashed open and he glared at her, reaching out for them. “Besides, you were a very active participant in last night’s events, you should help clean up the aftermath.”

He shook his head and tried to snatch the blankets from her grasp. She pulled them completely off the bed and slid onto the floor with them. He shot daggers at her until she pulled his shirt over her head and tossed it at him. “Get dressed, Marcus.”

He pulled his shirt on and said, “I’m not the one who’s naked.”

She rolled her eyes and walked toward her clothes, calling over her shoulder, “Get dressed, you idiot. We have to find that bottle or the Grounders will have our heads.”

She just rolled her eyes when she heard him mutter, _“Your head.”_

 

* * *

 

He didn’t think he had ever felt like such an outsider in his entire life. Walking through Tonawa at the chief’s side, he could feel every eye on him and his people. It put him on edge, made his finger twitch toward the trigger of the gun slung over his shoulder. He kept thinking of Penn’s warning and made sure that Abby and Benja were right next to him, her hand grasped firmly in his. 

Benja looked like he was about to run off, but Lincoln stepped up and pointed out the things they would check out later. Kane met his eyes and a thanks passed fromhim to the Grounder. Lincoln nodded before turning to Benja and telling him that they would go exploring after the meeting.

Erie led them to the large market in the center of the village. He called over a woman and three children and beckoned Kane, Abby, and Benja forward. The girl whispered to Erie, _“Noni, chon emo bilaik?_ | Dad, who are they?”

_“Heda Markos kom Skaikru en em seingeda_ | Marcus, leader of the Sky People, and his family,” Erie introduced. _“Abi en Benja._ | Abby and Benja. _”_

_“En Klark_ | And Clarke,” Kane added, motioning for her to join them. The look she gave him as she stood next to Benja warmed his heart, spreading the heat throughout his entire body. It was acceptance, welcoming him into her family.

He hadn’t had a family before Abby, not since his mother died and even then, it wasn’t much of one. He had been distant, closing himself off from Vera after Edward Kane was floated when Marcus was fifteen. It was strange to find his real family when he was 42, to finally feel like he belonged, that he was wanted.

Erie nodded at her in acknowledgement and said, _“Ai houmon, Konia, oma skat, Hamil en Ilai, en ai gada, Misi._ | My wife, Connea, my sons, Hamil and Ely, and my daughter, Missi.” Erie crouched in front of Benja and asked, _“Hashta oma skat shoun yu raun taim oyu kru en ain hit op?_ | How about my boys show you around while your people and mine meet?”

Benja looked at Kane and Abby for approval; Marcus nodded and the boy walked over to Hamil and Ely and let them lead him away, both talking fast in Trigedasleng at the same time. Erie looked passed Kane at the rest of his people. He called, “Come, we have much to discuss.”

They followed him to a large building on the other side of the market. It looked like it used to be City Hall and seemed to be used for the same purpose even 100 years after the missiles were launched. Connea walked next to Abby and Marcus, glancing at their joined hands. She commented, _“Yo skat nou chek bilaik yo._ | Your boy doesn’t look like you.”

_“Osir hon em in. Em ste Podakru_ | We took him in. He’s a Lake Person,” Abby replied, looking at the chief’s wife.

She nodded. _“Em laik feva kom hou._ | He is far from home.”

_“Em nou vout in den_ | He doesn’t think so,” Clarke said quietly, glancing at Kane and her mother.

He had come to the same conclusion, two weeks ago in Arkadia. Benja had visited him while he lay in bed, plagued with post-beating agony during his last hour before becoming a prisoner to Abbot and Pike. The boy had told him he wanted him kept from harm, it was in that moment that he knew Benja thought of Abby and Kane as surrogate parents. They certainly thought of him as their son and it was a relief to know it was a mutual feeling.

Connea looked at Clarke peculiarly but didn’t question her statement. They followed her husband into the building and he led them into a meeting room where four warriors were waiting. They looked at the newcomers with steely eyes, their arms crossed behind their backs. Kane grasped Abby’s hand tighter at the less-than-warm welcome.

Kane’s people stood at one side of the room, behind him, Bellamy, and Lincoln. The Tonawans stood on the other side, arms now cross over their chests. One of the girls, the one with a long red braid over her shoulder, said, _“Yo don lid Triyon kom oyon in? Chit fleim laik em?_ | You brought your own Tree Person? What value is he?”

_“Hod yu teisa op, Nati_ | Hold your tongue, Nati,” Erie muttered, shooting her a glare. He stood in the middle, unhappy about the divide and beckoned for Kane to join him. Reluctantly, Marcus pulled his hand out of Abby’s and joined the Tonawan chief. “We are here today to unite against Ontari, not to fight each other.”

_“Skaikru na ste nou sisfou hir_ | Skaikru will not be helpful here,” one of the men spat, glaring at Kane. He took a step toward Kane, brandishing the knife that was at his side. He held it toward Kane’s neck as their eyes met. Marcus didn’t flinch, he looked at the warrior coldly, waiting for him to make his move.

_“Fourd! Hod yu rein daun!_ | Ford! Mind your place!” Erie said angrily as he advanced on the warrior. _“Haihefa Rowan wich emo in, osir na seintaim!_ | King Roan trusts them, we will too!”

Erie shoved Ford away from Kane and glanced at the leader of the Sky People in apology. Kane didn’t want it, he didn’t care. He was so used to Grounder brutality that it didn’t even faze him anymore. He looked at the warriors and said, _“Osir laik hir kom kongeda. Osir vout in em ste skrish kom yo du. Teik oso trana nou bash choda op, nami?_ | We are here for the coalition. We think it’s shit as much as you do. Let’s try not to harm each other, okay?”

Erie nodded and added, _“Skaikru na lev oso op gon omo fayogon._ | The Sky People will train us on their weapons.”

Ford just shook his head as the other man said, _“Oso gon ste ait._ | Our weapons are fine.”

Harper called from the back of the group, her arms crossed over her chest, “ _Yo jos hon yo in osir sisplei._ | We’re just here to help.”

_“Azgeda nou gaf in sis kom branwoda_ | Ice Nation doesn’t need the help of worms _,”_ the remaining girl spat, glaring at Harper.

Erie said in as calm of a voice as he could muster in the situation, _“Nou mou, Tara, Noks. Yo na teik emo sis in. Dison laik hukop en em na set raun._ | Enough, Tara, Knox. You will accept their help. This is an alliance and it will stand.” His warriors fell silent, allowing them to discuss the defense of the village and where Skaikru would best be utilized.

The rest of the afternoon and evening passed in a blur for Kane. He met with other Tonawans and figured out which of them actually wanted training on their guns — it wasn’t many, but it was more than he thought he would get. Before he knew it, he was sitting alone around the campfire he had been sharing with the rest of Skaikru, the others had bid him goodnight without him realizing it. He extinguished the low flames and walked toward his tent.

Benja was curled up in the far corner, Clarke next to him with her arm wrapped protectively around him. Abby was nearest to him, on a sleeping bag with a thick blanket wrapped around her. She rolled over when he entered the tent and threw back the blanket for him to join her. He glanced at the kids then back at her. She rolled her eyes and patted the spot next to her.

He kicked off his boots and slid off his jacket before dropping to the ground next to her. He pulled the blanket over them and Abby’s arms curled around him as he stared at the canvas above them. _This is a mistake_ , he thought as she nuzzled into his shoulder, softly kissing him through his shirt. He knew trusting Ice Nation was stupid, Abby and Clarke should have just let him die in Polis. This war wasn’t worth his life.

Abby propped herself up on her elbow and placed a hand on his cheek, turning his head to look at her. He met her eyes and saw how strained hers were. She whispered, “Are you okay?”

He shook his head without a moment’s thought. She frowned and leaned down to kiss him despite the fact that the kids were a few feet away. He sighed into her lips, feeling like his worry dissipated a little more each time her lips brushed against his, each time her hands touched him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her against him when she rested her head in the crook of his neck, pressing gentle kisses to the skin there.

He whispered, “I love you, Abby.”

She smiled against his skin and murmured, “I love you too, Marcus.”

“Everything’s going to be okay,” he said, trying to make himself believe it too. She just nodded against him, but he could feel the tension in her shoulders under his arms. His hands started to work at the muscles and it wasn’t long before she was muffling her moans in the crook of his neck, biting his skin to keep from making a sound. He worked all of the tension out of her back and felt her drift off to sleep under his deft hands. Kane smiled and pressed a light kiss to the top of her head as his hands stilled and he settled into the flat pillow.

Abby murmured sleepily against his neck, “Why did you stop?”

He chuckled lightly and his hands went back to work.

 

* * *

 

The smell of the smoke reached them before the haze of it did. Abby’s eyes flashed open when Marcus shook her awake. She glared up at him until he said, “Fire.”

She leaned up and saw the orange flames licking at their tent. She was groggy, but understood the urgency of the situation. She said, “Get the kids.”

Marcus scrambled across the tent and woke Clarke and Benja. They whined and groaned, asking for five more minutes, thinking it was morning. He said in a desperate whisper, “Come on, we have to go.”

They grabbed their bags and shoes as Abby opened the tent, burning her hand on the metal zipper that was as hot as that maintenance shaft she had climbed through to safety after the Exodus crash. She threw open the heavy canvas and climbed out of the burning tent, coughing as she made her way through the thick smoke. She collapsed on the ground once she reached fresh air, taking in deep, gulping breaths.

A thud sounded on either side of her and she glanced in both directions, finding Clarke to her right and Benja to her left. She whispered to her daughter, “Where’s Marcus?”

“He was right behind me,” she said, sitting up, worry threading her voice. Abby stood unsteadily, her head feeling like it was filled with the smoke, and walked toward the burning tent but Clarke caught her hand and whispered, “You can’t.”

Abby stared at the flames, squeezing Clarke’s hand as Bellamy ran over. He asked, “Is Kane still in there?”

Clarke nodded, staring hard at the fire, trying to make out any movement within the canvas that was being consumed. Bellamy started toward the tent but Clarke grabbed for him, releasing Abby. Benja went to her side and clutched her hand tightly, whispering, “Marcus okay, yes?”

She didn’t answer, she couldn’t, not until she saw him emerge, clutching Abby’s backpack to his chest, his own slung over his shoulder. She stared at him incredulously before she ran at him and grabbed the backpack, throwing it to the ground. She yelled, “What the hell were you thinking? That wasn’t worth you burning to death, Marcus!”

He stared at the ground and muttered, “Your wedding rings are in it.”

Her anger faltered and she stared at him, her eyes softening. She croaked, “You idiot.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and fit her face in the crook of his neck, pressing a kiss to his hot skin. She murmured, “You wonderful idiot.”

His arms wrapped tightly around her, holding her as close to him as he could. She whispered, “Don’t ever do that again.”

He nodded as he pulled away from her to press a light kiss to her forehead.

“What happened?” Erie shouted, running through the market toward them. Something flared up in Kane, Abby saw it in his eyes as he pulled away from her. He marched toward the chief and she heard the first of his shouts before Erie led him away from curious ears.

Clarke took Abby’s hand and led her away from the inferno, Abby’s backpack in her hand. Several Grounders were attempting to smother the fire but Abby figured it wasn’t their problem anymore. She sat them down around an extinguished fire, one that Lincoln lit as he and Octavia joined the group. Bellamy sat next to Clarke and asked if she was okay. Clarke nodded absently, busy fussing over a burn on Benja’s arm. Abby pulled the med kit out of her backpack and handed it to Clarke so she could treat the wound.

“You look worried,” Octavia said as she sat next to Abby.

She rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, “Do I? My tent was just set on fire while I was sleeping with my family. Should I feel safe?”

Octavia stared at her, unsure how to proceed. Abby knew it was unfair to lash out at her, she hadn’t done anything wrong, but she needed to let out her frustrations. Lincoln crouched in front of Abby and took ahold of one of her hands in both of his. He whispered, “We’re not going to let anything happen to you or Benja or Clarke, not even Kane. Okay?”

Abby shook her head. “It’s not your job to protect any of us. You’re here to fight a war, not play bodyguard.”

“And what if the war is within this village?” He asked quietly, looking at her intensely. She opened her mouth to reply but the radio at Bellamy’s hip crackled to life and caused them all to jump.

_“Kane, Bellamy, are you there?”_ It was Jackson, his voice alert despite the lateness of the hour.

Bellamy looked at Abby as he pulled the radio from its holder and raised it to his mouth. He pressed the button and said, “It’s Bellamy, Jackson. What’s up?”

_“Can you wake Abby? I need to speak with her.”_

Abby frowned as Bellamy replied, “She’s right here, we had an incident.”

He handed the radio to Abby and she pressed the button as she said, “What’s wrong, Jackson?”

He paused before replying, _“Ontari attacked yesterday. We have hundreds of wounded with only six doctors, two of whom are interns. We need you Abby.”_

She stared into the flames, her finger hovering above the button.

Jackson pressed, _“Abby?”_

She looked up, realizing that Harper and Nate had joined them. They were looking at her intently, as were the others. Finally, she pressed the button and replied, “I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon.”

He sighed in relief, making the show of doing it through the radio. _“Thank you, Abby.”_

She handed the radio back to Bellamy. She glanced at Clarke as she took ahold of her hand. Her daughter gave her a rare smile and squeezed her hand before she went back to tending the burn on Benja’s arm.

“How do you think Kane’s going to take the news?” Harper asked across the fire. Abby glanced over to his silhouette, barely visible in the darkness. He was arguing with Erie still, using his arms in a very animated fashion, trying to convey the seriousness of what had just happened no doubt. Abby turned back to Harper and just shrugged.

They talked quietly about Ice Nation while they waited for Kane to return to them. Abby tended to Clarke’s burns and let Clarke take care of the one on her hand. Marcus finally returned nearly an hour after he left and she pulled him away before he had the chance to sit down. He was still fuming from whatever he and Erie had talked about and she hoped what she had to say wouldn’t anger him further.

To her relief, he kissed her. His tongue parted her lips and met hers as his hands cradled her jaw. Her hands tangled in his hair, her fingers sliding through the thick locks. She was the one to pull away, he seemed content to kiss her until she left in the early hours of the morning. He held her tight to him, her head tucked under his chin.

He said, “Benja’s going with you. Harper’s driving you.”

“Why Harper?” She asked, pulling back to look at him.

He smiled and said, “So she can get back to Jasper.”

“Aren’t you the romantic,” she muttered, pressing her cheek against his chest. She felt the light chuckle get caught in his chest and wrapped her arms around him, wanting to hold onto the moment for as long as she could.

“You’ll be safer there,” he whispered after nearly a minute as his lips brushed against her hair.

She smiled against his chest and said, “As long as we can get passed the advancing army, that is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for taking damn near three weeks to update, I feel awful about the delay! I'll try better in the future. I hope the 4K+ word chapter was worth the wait!
> 
> As usual, reviews are always welcomed and appreciated! :)
> 
> -Lauren


	6. At the Gates

"What's wrong with a little chaos?"

\- Bellamy Blake, "Earth Skills"

 

* * *

 

 

They were all dragging their feet. It had been a week of patching up arrow wounds, knife wounds, sword wounds, healing infections, amputating limbs. They were nearing the end of it though, only a few people left in need of medical attention, all re-injuries. Abby was exhausted, Nyko was exhausted, Jackson was too. Kath and Troy were asleep on the ground in the corner of the medical tent they had set up at Lexa’s camp. Ash and Wella, the two Grounder healers, who were with the Broadleaf and Blue Cliff clans respectively, were talking in low voices near the opening.

Abby walked outside, needing fresh air. She leaned against a crate and closed her eyes. Her mind drifted to Marcus, wondering what he was doing. They had barely any time to talk in the week she had been flitting between Arkadia and Lexa’s camp. When they did, it wasn’t for long and not much was said. Raven tried convincing her that no news was good news but Abby remained in a state of anxiety. How long did it take an army of Ontari’s size to travel 400 miles?

Jackson touched her shoulder, startling her out of her thoughts. He crouched down and took her hand. She smiled at the gesture, he had been so kind — more than usual — since begging her to come back, to leave Clarke and Marcus. He whispered, “Munn needs that operation then you should go back to Arkadia.”

She sat up, alert. “Is there a problem?”

He shook his head. “No, but you need sleep and you have barely seen Benja in the last two days.”

She nodded after a moment’s thought. “I’ve been a little busy.”

“You have,” he agreed with a pat of her hand. “And we are very appreciative. But you have to sleep too.”

She sighed and let him pull her to her feet. Abby drew in a deep breath and walked into the medical tent. Munn was already on the table, prepped and ready for surgery. Ash stood there, ready to assist — Jackson had another surgery to take care of.

“Have you applied the local anesthetic?” Abby asked as she washed her hands. The Broadleaf healer nodded. “Let’s get started then.”

The surgery only took an hour. It was all blood and sutures, fixing the hole in his stomach that had opened again after he disregarded her advice of ‘taking it easy’ after getting stabbed there. She scolded him during the surgery when he said that she needn’t bother, that he would just open the wound up again. Abby washed her hands again after and changed her bloody shirt right there in the tent with her back to the men who were talking in low voices. She didn’t care about modesty anymore, the Grounders never had.

She nodded to them as she walked out of the tent and headed for Arkadia, a small backpack slung over her shoulders. It was a half mile back to camp and Abby took it at a leisurely pace. Her mind was blank the whole way as she listened to the birds in the trees and watched the sky turn from blue to pink, a faint orange on the horizon. She wondered if she would ever tire of seeing the sun set.

Shouts broke through her reverie as she walked through the gate and down the corridor of stables and storage buildings. She emerged into the yard and saw that the football field Marcus, Bellamy, Bennett, and Wick had made for the kids was packed with people, a match in progress.

Gwen stood on the sidelines with dozens of spectators, hands on her hips as she scolded, “Benja, if you don’t calm down, you’re out!”

He was on the ground with Domhnall Banks, legs tangled in the aftermath of a nasty tackle. He jumped to his feet and yelled, “I did no thing wrong!”

Wick ran over and grabbed Benja, pulling him away from the apparent referee. He said, _“Nou ste laud, Ben. Em na jok yu au pleiplei._ | Don’t be loud, Ben. She will remove you from the game.”

Jasper shouted from the other side of the field, “Control your player, Wick!”

It seemed that Jasper and Wick were the coaches and Abby couldn’t think of worse picks to be in charge. She was just glad to see Jasper up and moving around, albeit with the assistance of crutches. She walked over and stood next to Gwen as she nodded to Ingrid Müller — the mechanics teacher — who stood amongst the players with the ball. She seemed to be the head referee while Gwen was the assistant of sorts.

“How did this start?” Abby asked, looking at the forty or so citizens watching the game.

She shrugged. “The kids wanted to play, the others got word of it. Before long, Harper, Gina, Monty and Rebecca wanted in. Wick and Jasper decided to coach. Ingrid figured we should make it a real competition. She thinks we should get a league going; all because of that lunatic you have living with you.”

“You call it lunacy, I call it passion,” Abby said dismissively as she watched Benja take the ball easily from Edric Lukacevic and dribble up the field toward the opposing team’s goalie, Alexei Jephcott. Abby asked, “Isn’t it unfair to have the teenagers involved?”

“They’re only allowed to defend,” Gwen replied, watching Gina try and stop Benja who easily dodged her with the ball. He passed it to Reese Lemkin whose shot was blocked by Alexei.

“Good job, Al!” Jasper shouted as he clapped his hands, urging his team to hustle toward the other end of the field on a quick counterattack. Harper smiled at him as she passed to keep a high defensive line with Gina. Abby could see that Kane’s plan of letting romance take its course with the two was working. In the week she had been at Arkadia, she hadn’t been able to visit Jasper’s bedside without seeing Harper there too.

“How’s Domhnall doing?” Abby asked quietly, watching the newest orphan run by on the field. It had been three weeks since he lost his father, killed by Octavia. Abby had seen him only a handful of times since the funeral where he had been too upset to stay and watch James Banks be lowered into the ground.

Gwen hesitated, keeping her eyes on the match. “He’s better, he still cries some nights.” She glanced at Abby and said, “I know James was horrible in the end, but that kid doesn’t deserve this.”

“None of them do,” Abby said with a nod. Of the eight children on the field, only half had at least one parent, including Benja, and she knew she and Kane were poor substitutes for his real parents. Parish Helm’s father was in Buffalo, so was Cara Costa’s — both of their mothers were home though. Oswin Gottlieb was the only one with his father at Arkadia, as he was the chemistry teacher. Daniel was across the field, watching his son play goalkeeper on Benja’s team.

“Do you ever wonder what our lives would have been like if the Ark hadn’t been dying?” Gwen whispered. Abby looked at her, but her eyes were following the ball.

She would never admit how often she had thought about that very scenario in the early days following Jake’s death. She would be in Go Sci right now, dealing with minor injuries or doing a checkup or at a Council meeting. But there was one thing for certain: she would have been going home to Jake and Clarke after. It was a bittersweet thought — going home to Jake. Though she had a loving man to go home to now, there was still that lingering _what if_ in the back of her mind — _what if Jake had survived?_ She didn’t like to think about it because it would mean that Marcus wouldn’t be hers.

Gwen looked at her, seeing the deep frown on her face. She touched her arm lightly, pulling her out of her thoughts, and said, “Oh, I’m sorry, Abby. I didn’t mean…”

“It’s fine, I—” Abby began, glad that the shrill whistle cut her off. She and Gwen looked at the field and found Wick storming at Ingrid, fired up about something.

He yelled, “That was a crap call! A dive if I’ve ever seen one!”

“Gwen!” Ingrid shouted, annoyance clear in her voice as she glared at Wick. “What’s the verdict?”

She frowned as she looked at Ingrid. Benja stood next to Wick, his hands on his little hips as he scowled down at Cara Costa on the ground, clearly in agreement with his coach that the recipient of his challenge was overplaying the severity of it. Abby’s eyes met his and she shook her head at him, he frowned and looked at the ground.

Bennett, on Gwen’s other side, muttered in her ear, “Yellow card for Benja.”

Gwen nodded and called, “Kane, that’s a yellow card!”

Wick just shook his head, muttering to himself as he headed back to his stretch of sideline. Abby whispered to Gwen, “Send that little lunatic along after the game.”

Gwen nodded and Abby started to leave, touching Bennett’s arm as she went. She headed toward Gedanes and was halfway there when she heard a shout from behind her. She stopped, her shoulders tensing — she had nearly been home. She turned and found Penn running her way. She asked, “What is it, Penn?”

“The Commander wishes to speak with you.”

“Can’t she take it up with Sinclair?” She asked, not bothering to hide her annoyance.

He shook his head. “It’s about Ice Nation.”

“Tell her to meet me in the Council chamber,” Abby replied with a sigh. She left without another word and went straight to the chamber, sitting down heavily and waiting. Her eyes followed Lexa and Indra as they entered the room and sat opposite her. “What’s this about?”

Indra began, “The Commander believes—”

“Is the Commander incapable of speaking for herself?” Abby asked.

Lexa replied, “I want to send my fastest riders to aid Kane in Tonawa.”

“What difference would a few of your warriors make?” Abby asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I have 400 ready to go, all on horseback. They can be there in two days—”

“What’s to say they even make it in time?” Abby asked.

Indra said, “Our scouts have reported that Ontari is only halfway to Tonawa. Lexa’s riders can make it to the village before the army. They need vengeance for what happened here.”

“You people need to understand that vengeance is never the smart choice,” Abby said, frowning. She understood that _jus drein jus daun_ was their way of life, but she didn’t see its appeal — it only ended in more death. “Do whatever you want, just don’t get my people killed for your _vengeance_.”

“No harm will come to Skaikru,” Lexa offered sincerely.

“We’ve heard that before,” Abby said, rolling her eyes. They settled on Lexa again and found a strange expression on her face, something between annoyance and regret. She asked, “Do you plan to ride off to battle with your warriors, Commander?”

She nodded. “A commander who does not fight with her people shouldn’t be the commander.”

“A commander who fights with a hole in her side won’t be the commander for much longer either,” Abby chastised. She had insisted on seeing Lexa’s wound when she arrived at the camp and knew it needed more time to heal still. The Commander just gave her a look and Abby replied, “It’s your life.”

 

* * *

 

The sun was low in the sky by the time she finally made it back to her quarters. Benja was on the couch, lounging with Penn’s book, studying. He smiled at her before turning back to the book. As she hung up her jacket on its hook, she called, “No talking back to Gwen or Ingrid again, okay?”

Benja nodded, not looking up. She smiled and walked to her bedroom, ruffling his floppy hair on the way. She shut the door behind her and stepped out of her pants before climbing into the bed. She reached absently for the small, handheld radio Wick had given her a few days ago. It was already set to channel three, the only one Kane ever had his set to — it was an established fact that that was the way to reach him, his own personal channel if only it was ever free. 

No one was on the line now and Abby pressed the button, calling, “Marcus?”

It was nearly a minute before there was a break in the static and she heard a sleepy, _“Abby?”_

“Did I wake you?”

_“I’m on guard duty tonight,”_ he explained. After a moment, he asked, _“How was your day?”_

She smiled before she replied, “Exhausting. Too many surgeries and I think Benja’s going to get kicked off the football league before it even starts.”

_“Too many yellow cards?”_ There was a hint of a smile in his voice. 

“Don’t encourage him, he’s too aggressive on the field as it is,” Abby replied, staring at the ceiling. 

_“As Chancellor, I forbid him from being kicked off the league_.”

Abby sighed into the receiver and he laughed quietly. She asked, “How was your day?”

_“I spent most of it waiting around for Roan. Then there was another war council meeting before Roan did what he planning to do anyway.”_

She sighed and replied quietly, “I think that’s the Grounder way.”

_“I think you are right.”_

She frowned and ran her hand through her hair as she glanced at the empty spot next to her on the bed. She wished she was having this conversation in person with him, either in Tonawa or here, it didn’t matter as long as they were together. This week apart had done nothing good for her, the worry that was a constant nag in the back of her mind was exhausting. 

_“Hey,”_ he said gently. _“Are you okay?”_

She didn’t reply right away, not sure if she should tell him that she hated this, that waking alone was the worst thing after having him in her bed for so many months. She replied, “I’m fine.”

_“Abby, please. I’m not there, I…”_ He paused and she waited, imagining the concentration on his face as he struggled to find the right words. _“I need you to tell me what’s wrong.”_

She sighed and said, “I miss you.”

_“I miss you too,”_ he said quietly, like it was a secret. _“When are you coming back?”_

“I didn’t think you wanted me to come back,” she said, brows knitting together. If it were up to her, she would have left after the major surgeries were handled. That was four days ago. 

_“Of course, I do, Abby.”_

“You said I was safer here.”

_“You are, but I’m selfish. Please, Abby, come back as soon—”_

His voice cut off and Abby frowned, bringing the radio up to look at properly. The display wasn’t lit up, it didn’t look like it was even on. She fiddled with the dials before pressing the button and calling, “Marcus?”

There was no answer. Panic flashed through her and she called his name again to no avail. She slid out of bed and pulled her pants back on, grabbing the radio as she hurried out of the room. 

“ _Weron yu kamp raun?_ | Where are you going?” Benja asked, watching her breeze through the living room to the front door.

“To see Raven,” she said, clutching the radio tightly in her fist.

 

* * *

 

“All I’m saying is that the Grounders could pick up a book every once in a while,” Bellamy muttered, forcing a quiet laugh from Kane’s mouth. They sat on the railing of the battlement above the gate, watching the trees for movement, their guns across their laps. 

After everything that had happened that day — communications going dead, Roan deciding on the blockade in the most illogical place — he was glad that Bellamy had offered to keep him company on guard duty, his mind wasn’t something he wanted to be alone with right now. He was worried, thoughts consumed by any reason their radios might have gone dark. None of his people had been able to figure it out and he feared the worst, worried that something had happened to Arkadia. Bellamy was a welcomed distraction.

Kane replied, “You shouldn’t have insulted them for not reading _The Iliad_ and _The Odyssey._ ” 

Bellamy rolled his eyes and said, “I was talking the Trojan War, it’s _history!_ How can they not know anything about this world they live in? We know about it and we grew up in _space!”_

“I would keep my voice down if I were you, I’m in no mood to pull an arrow from your back.”

“I think you’re supposed to leave it in unless you know how to remove it,” Bellamy replied, glancing at him. “I would leave it to Clarke.”

“She would be your best bet,” he said with a nod, staring out at the trees. “Still, she wouldn’t be too happy with you getting shot over an argument about what the Trojan Horse was.”

“Okay, but, how could they not know!” Bellamy asked quietly. Kane rolled his eyes as the young man launched into a full history lesson, one Kane already knew by heart. 

“Bellamy?” Neither of them had noticed her climb the ladder nor walk across the planks behind them. He chalked it up to the fact that they were focusing on the trees rather than the fact that they were poor excuses for guards tonight. 

“Yeah?” He asked overeagerly, half-turning on the battlement railing. 

“Can I talk to Kane alone?” She asked. Bellamy glanced at Kane who was still staring at the trees. Out of the corner of his eye, Kane saw him hop off the railing onto the planks. He touched Clarke’s arm and whispered something to her, she shook her head and he started down the ladder. 

Clarke climbed onto the railing and swung her legs over the ledge. She stared off into the trees and he asked, “What did he ask?”

“If he should come back,” she replied. “I said I could keep you company.”

Kane nodded and went back to watching the trees. She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder and his body stiffened. He had never expected this out of her, not after what he had done. She was a constant surprise. 

After a few moments, Clarke whispered, “I know you’re worried about her. I am too.”

“Ontari should have been here by now. What if she went back to Arkadia? What if that’s why our radios went dead?” He wondered aloud, his hands gripping the railing under him. “I let Abby go back to uncertainty. I…” He drew in a rattled breath before he concluded, “I shouldn’t have let her go.”

Clarke frowned up at him. “She would have gone anyway.”

He let out a breathy laugh and nodded, staring out at the trees, but not really seeing them. “She would have.”

They were silent for a while and Clarke leaned more heavily against him. Tentatively, he wrapped his arm around her and she sank into him. He looked down at her face and found her eyes closed, a small smile on her face. He didn’t deserve this, her acceptance was the last thing he should have been warranted. He was the one who charged her with treason along with her father. She should steer clear of him, she should hate him. But she didn’t.

She whispered, “Kane?”

“Hmm?” He asked, eyes making a large sweep of the tree line.

“Were you friends with my dad?” She asked.

He frowned, unsure of where the question had come from. He said, “I was. Why?”

“I always wondered,” she said with a shrug as she looked at the trees.

“Clarke—” he began but she cut him off.

She had perked up, pulling away from his slightly. “What was that?”

Kane looked in the direction she was and saw movement on the tree line. He looked at her, finding her eyes on him. He turned and hopped off the railing, grabbing his gun. She did the same before following him to the ladder.

They walked through the side gate and approached the movement as quiet as shadows. Whoever it was wasn’t trying to hide their presence. Kane entered the trees first, Clarke at his heels. They approached the woman crouched in the shadow of a tree. She was watching Tonawa. Kane’s eyes grew wide as he recognized Nati.

“What are you doing?” He asked, keeping his gun raised.

“Waiting for you,” she replied, rising to her feet.

He began, “What—?”

The _snap_ of a twig behind them cut him off and Clarke and Kane turned to find Carl Emerson walking through the trees toward them. They didn’t have the chance to say a word or fire off a round as Nati attacked them from behind and two Grounders dropped from the trees to assist.

“It is good to see you two again,” he said, watching as the Grounders relieved them of their guns and tied their hands behind their backs. “Our queen has a few questions for you.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated! Again, sorry for taking forever, I suck.
> 
> -Lauren


	7. Suffering

_“I want you to suffer the same way that I’ve suffered,”_

— Carl Emerson, “Bitter Harvest”

 

* * *

 

The rover bumped along the road, a few miles from Tonawa. Lexa’s riders had left at the same time, but they were long in the rearview mirror. Harper sat at the wheel, Abby silent next to her. The closer the village got, the more the anxiety filled her. Her knee bounced as they passed another sign for “Tonawa,” the last half of what the town used to be called burned off. She had a feeling that something bad had happened, that Ontari had attacked despite Lexa’s reports.

“They’ll still be there,” Harper whispered, glancing at her out of the corner of her eye. Abby nodded absently. She was almost surprised Harper had said anything at all — they had barely spoke the entire seven hour trip, both worried over those they cared about.

In the rover, she wasn’t with her family. Benja was back at Arkadia, under the competent supervision of Raven, Rebecca, and Gina. Marcus and Clarke were still another mile away. She felt as if she was balancing in a purgatory, neither getting closer nor further from her family, it was like she would never get to them.

At last, the rover pulled outside the back gate of Tonawa and Abby jumped out before the wheels settled. Harper hurried after her and they entered the small gate, waved in by a Grounder standing guard.

She didn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t what she found. People were running from place to place, frantic. They kept shouting something about _Wanheda_ and _Heda kom Skaikru,_ talking too fast for Abby to understand them _._ She looked at Harper, wide eyed, before she approached someone who seemed relatively calm. She asked, _“Weron kamp raun Skaikru?_ | Where are the Sky People?”

He looked her up and down before nodding across the sea of ramshackle houses to City Hall, the top of which was visible to them. Abby started toward it and heard Harper mutter a hasty, _“mochof_ | thank you” as she followed.

“They’re talking about Kane and Clarke, right?” Harper asked, hurrying to keep up with her. Sometimes she forgot that the kids knew enough of the language to get by, she forgot that Kane, Octavia, and Lincoln had been teaching Trigedasleng to anyone who wanted to know, she forgot that Kane had made it a requirement to know Trigedasleng for a position on the Council or in the guard. She had other things on her mind.

Abby nodded, her eyes on their destination. It grew larger and larger as her feet carried her quickly toward it. She burst through the door minutes later and went to the meeting room.

All twelve people turned when they heard the door open, watching their entrance into the room. They surrounded the massive table and an old map lay on the worn surface.

“What are you two doing here?” Nate Miller asked. The light amusement that usually accompanied his voice no matter the situation was noticeably absent. Harper glanced Abby’s way as they progressed farther into the room, hearing it too. Miller asked, “Where’s Benja?”

“Where are Kane and Clarke?” Harper asked, taking her place at the table next to Emori. The look Bellamy and Octavia shared didn’t ease the tension in Abby’s lower abdomen. Worry had caused the knot and it was only worsening now that she hadn’t found her family where she expected to. She stepped up to the table and glanced down at the map. It was of the massive island west of Tonawa — a small, seemingly abandoned village on its eastern bank was circled in red.

“On a mission,” Nelson said too quickly, something that should have been reassurance on his face. Abby frowned at him.

“Don’t lie to her,” John Murphy spat, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re not good at it and she deserves better.”

Abby looked at him, eyes wide. Murphy averted his gaze and stared down at the map in front of them. He tapped the red dot she hadn’t noticed at first glance in the circled village, Dyle Villa. He said quietly, “They were taken here.”

“Taken?” Abby asked; Murphy confirmed with a nod. She looked to Erie and Roan and asked, “When did this happen?”

“Last night,” Bellamy said in a hushed voice. He was staring hard at the village on the map as if the lines on the old paper truly held the answer. He looked up suddenly, his eyes meeting Abby’s. He spoke only to her as he continued, “Clarke relieved me on guard duty, she wanted to keep Kane company. That’s the last time they were seen; Nelson went to take over for Kane at sunrise, but they were long gone.”

“Octavia and I tracked them to Dyle Villa this morning,” Lincoln offered, tapping the village on the map. “It’s about an hour away on foot and they’re being held in an old school. Two Ice Nation warriors are posted outside, another patrols the woods behind the school periodically.”

“How do you know Marcus and Clarke are actually being held there?” Abby’s eyes found Lincoln’s as she asked, “Did you see them?”

Octavia answered in a whisper, “We heard their screams.”

Bellamy’s hands clutched the edge of the table as he lowered his head and drew in a rattled breath. Octavia reached for the hand nearest her and placed hers on top of it, she ran her thumb over the back. The Blakes looked at each other and it was in their eyes that Abby saw the real difference in them. Bellamy’s were red, the skin bunched at the corners. He was taking Clarke’s abduction hard; she knew he would prefer any physical pain over what she saw in his eyes. Octavia’s were on fire. She was out for blood; Abby wondered how Lincoln managed to stop her from storming into that school on her own.

She looked away from the Blakes to Roan. She asked, “What’s stopping us from leading the armies to Dyle Villa and taking them back by force?”

“Over two people? I’m not revealing where my army is positioned for two people,” Roan said coldly.

“That’s not an option, _Skaiplan,”_ Ford spat, glaring at her. “We’re not risking our lives or strategic position for two worthless—”

 _“Nou mou, Fourd_ | Enough, Ford,” Erie said, sternly. _“Disha hukop na set raun._ | This alliance will stand.”

Ford rolled his eyes.

Lincoln said calmly, “I understand you don’t like the Sky People, but Kane and Clarke are valued leaders, just like you.”

 _“Ai nou fleim Trikru in seintaim_ | I don’t value the Tree People either,” Ford said with eyes so narrow they were practically slits.

“Ford,” Roan warned. The warrior looked to his king with venom; Roan just glared at him coldly. “Go patrol the woods.”

 _“Dison bilaik seken dula!_ | That’s a second’s job!” Ford yelled, his fist banging against the table.

 _“En yun_ | And yours,” the king replied. Ford glared at him but reluctantly obeyed his king. Roan looked around at the others as if the outburst hadn’t happened. He tapped a trail on the map and said, “This is the way we go, fifty of us should do—”

“With all due respect,” Bellamy interrupted, his eyes following the trail before he looked at Roan. “You haven’t fought the Mountain Men, you were in exile. _We have._ It would be better to send a small team to sneak in and out undetected to rescue Kane and Clarke.”

“You fought them once and you think you know them!” Tara scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I infiltrated the Mountain alone and helped bring it to the ground! I’ve done things you could never stomach!” Bellamy yelled. He took in deep breaths to calm down before he said, “Less is more with them, believe me.”

“We’ve been at war with them for forty years,” Erie began.

Murphy interrupted, “ _You_ have? All the way up here? You were too insignificant for them to stomp out and you’re too prideful to admit it.” Erie’s eyes darkened. Murphy smirked as he continued, “Now, as someone who’s never fought these Mountain Men, I’ll do the smart thing and listen to someone who has.”

“The opinion of a thief is _branwoda!”_ Knox spat on the floor.

“What did you call him?” Emori said, reaching reflexively for the knife she kept at her hip. It was in the bin in the corner, checked with the rest of the weapons at the door.

Through the tension in the room, Harper asked quietly, “What Mountain Man is left?”

“Emerson,” Miller replied with venom. He looked to Bellamy and asked, “So, what’s the plan?”

Bellamy studied the map for a moment and tapped the cluster of trees outlined a mile away from the school. “Six of us will go: Lincoln, Octavia, Miller, Harper, Abby, and me. Octavia sneaks in while Lincoln and I deal with the guards. She will find Kane and Clarke and get them out. Lincoln and I will provide cover as she leads them to these trees. Abby will be waiting to provide whatever medical attention is necessary before we get them into the rover that Harper will be waiting in on the other side of the trees."

“What will I be doing?” Miller asked, raising a lazy eyebrow.

“You are Abby’s protection,” Bellamy said, glancing at the doctor. “No offense, Abby, but you can’t shoot.”

She nodded and motioned for him to continue.

Bellamy said, “No one has to know where the Ice Nation army is. We’ll get them in and out no problem.”

Roan stared at the map as if he could see Bellamy’s plan playing out on the paper. He nodded and walked out of the room; Erie and the other Grounders followed.

“What happens if any of us are discovered?” Abby asked.

Bellamy replied coldly, “Then we kill them all.”

 

* * *

 

Blood trickled down his wrists, restrained behind him to the chair. His head rested against his chest, he was on the verge of passing out. The pain in his ribs was enough to do the trick but his face throbbed too and a sharp pain shot up his entire right leg every few minutes.

A noise sounded from a dozen feet in front of him and it was a minute before he realized it was Clarke calling his name. He managed to raise his head to look at her. His eyes met the bruise forming around her eye and the blood dripping from her nose and spilling from the cut on her lip.

“Kane,” Clarke whispered again, tears collecting at the corners of her eyes. “Are you okay?”

He knew he had gotten the worst of the beating and he would gladly take every punch, kick, and stab if it meant Clarke was spared as much pain as possible. He could deal with the pain but he couldn’t deal with what the beating would do to Clarke. He already worried about her mental stability after Mount Weather and living in the woods for three months, but if she were to be beaten like he had been in Polis or witness what he did with Pike, he didn’t know how long she would last.

Kane whispered, “I’m fine, Clarke.”

 _“Kane,”_ she chastised, leaning forward against her restraints. “You don’t look okay.”

“Don’t worry,” he said quietly, staring at the floor.

“Hey,” she started, but the door at the end of the gymnasium opened and they both looked up to find their _torcha_ , Reid, walking toward them followed by Carl Emerson.

“Clarke, Kane” Emerson began as he neared them. His eyes were cold, almost lifeless, as he passed into the circle of light Kane and Clarke were under. “I know I said our queen had some questions, but she’s a little busy at the moment.” He pulled out a knife from a sheath against his thigh. “So, I’ll be asking them.”

He glanced at Kane as he knelt in front of Clarke and ran the knife along her knee. He asked, “Where is the Ice Nation army?”

“Which one?” Clarke asked, glaring at him.

He chuckled lightly before replying, the knife dragging along and snagging her jeans, “You think you are smart, don’t you?”

Clarke didn’t reply, but her eyes found Kane’s and he frowned at her, unsure of what she was doing. Antagonizing Emerson was the last thing they should be doing; he knew firsthand what happened when provoking captors. Last time he had witnessed it, Jasper Jordan had nearly died at the hands of James Banks and Shawn Gillmer.

Emerson followed her gaze and met Kane’s disapproving stare. He grinned and looked back to Clarke. He said, “Something’s changed here. Are you two…”

He let the question hang in the air and Kane glared at him. Clarke spat, “Of course not.”

“Ah,” he said, nodding. “Your mother then. So he’s family now.”

Clarke stared at him, knowing where he was going with it.

Emerson smiled as he asked again, “Where is Roan’s army?”

He kept his eyes on Clarke as he walked backward toward Kane’s chair, twirling the knife between his fingers. Kane kept his eyes on it as Emerson backed his way. He knew it was going to happen before Emerson thrust the knife down into his leg — Clarke’s silence was all it took. The pain was worse since he had time to tense up against it. The blade pierced his flesh and imbedded itself into the thigh bone. He felt his jaw quiver and drew in rapid breaths to keep from screaming aloud. He met Clarke’s eyes as she whimpered, watching Kane desperately fight the reaction that would satisfy Emerson to no ends.

“Oh, what’s the matter, Clarke?” Emerson taunted, wiggling the knife in Kane’s knee as the Chancellor’s head fell back and he cried out. Clarke’s face contorted as she watched Kane writhe in agony.

“Please, _please,_ stop! Just stop!” Clarke pleaded, her eyes on what she could see of Kane’s face. “I’ll do anything.”

“All I want now, Clarke, is for you to see your family die.” Emerson said coldly, wrenching the knife out of Kane’s leg painfully. He advanced on Clarke, the blood dripping from the blade onto the wooden floor. “You murdered my entire family.” He gripped Clarke’s shoulders, the knife dangerously close to her throat as he yelled, “You don’t deserve happiness, you don’t deserve love! You deserve to die alone, knowing you got everyone you have ever cared about killed!”

He turned toward Kane against as his head rolled toward his chest. He went to his side and looked Clarke in the eye as he gripped Kane by the hair and pulled his head back. He ran the back of the blade over Kane’s neck before he said, “Last chance, Clarke.”

 _“Please,”_ she whimpered, watching Kane cringe against whatever blow Emerson was about to deal. “I’ll tell you whatever you want, just don’t hurt him.”

“We don’t really care where Roan’s army is, I wanted to see you squirm,” he replied, turning the blade over as he trailed it down Kane’s chest, letting it dig in as he went, cutting the shirt and skin underneath on the way. Kane’s jaw clenched as his nerves stung where his flesh was torn apart. “We don’t want Niagara, we want Roan to go back there.”

“Why?” Kane asked, feeling lightheaded and on the verge of passing out.

“No offense to you, Kane, but you were just in the way. I’m sorry, you’re going to die because of _her_ mistakes,” Emerson said sincerely as he twirled the tip of the knife against his right thigh, just above Kane’s other stab wound. He looked at Clarke as he raised the knife and jammed it deep into the thigh, striking bone.

 

* * *

 

“Kane?”

He opened his eyes with difficulty and found Clarke staring at him, concern written on every inch of her face. She breathed out in relief as he made a nondescript noise.

“You’ve been out for a while,” she said quietly, her eyes on the knife still imbedded in the middle of his thigh.

“I can’t imagine why,” he muttered, his entire body pounding with pain.

“Kane,” she whispered, grief breaking through her voice. “I’m so sorry.”

He shook his head. “Don’t.”

“Just let me,” she said, looking him over. She took in the blood on his face, the swollen eye, the blood seeping through the tear in his shirt, the wounds on his leg, and the knife. “I did this to you. I always do this.”

He knew she was talking about the time Roan stabbed Bellamy in the leg in an abandoned subway station. He murmured, “Don’t blame yourself, don’t do that to yourself.”

“I think I understand you now,” she whispered after a moment.

He didn’t hear her, a pain shot up his leg and he cried out. He wheezed out, “Clarke, if I don’t make it out—”

 _“Don’t you dare,”_ she warned, her voice harsh. “You will because I won’t let you die here.”

“Clarke—”

“Kane, stop!” She snapped, glaring at him. “You _are_ getting out of here. My mom needs you; Benja needs you; Bellamy and Octavia need you. _I need you!_ Fight for those you love because we’re going to fight for you.”

He shook his head as the pain intensified. “Clarke—”

“Shut up,” she snapped.

“What—”

“I said, ‘shut up,’” she said quietly, her voice alert. “Did you hear that?”

He couldn’t hear anything over the sound of the blood pounding in his ears. Once he really concentrated, he could hear the light footsteps on the gymnasium floor followed by Clarke’s nearly silent gasp. Kane managed to open his eyes to see Octavia cutting through the zip tie at her ankles, Clarke was rubbing her wrists as she looked at him.

She whispered, “How are we getting out of here? Kane’s injured.”

Octavia walked over to him and knelt behind the chair, slicing through the zip tie at his wrists before moving onto his ankles. Her eyes homed in on the knife in his leg and she glanced back at Clarke, her eyes wide. Clarke’s face was grim as she stood with her arms crossed, watching Octavia appraise Kane.

Octavia rose to her feet and walked to Clarke. She said in a voice so quiet she probably thought Kane couldn’t hear her, “I don’t see how we can get him out of here.”

“If we leave him, they’ll kill him,” Clarke said, her voice strained.

Octavia glared at her. “I never said we were leaving him.” She slapped a gun into Clarke’s hand. “We might have to kill our way out.”

“That’s fine,” Clarke said harshly. She and Octavia walked back to Kane and each took one of his arms, ducking under it. They both rose again, lifting him to his feet. Kane let out an agonizing scream and Octavia clamped her hand over his mouth, silencing him after only a few seconds. She looked at Clarke and frowned. Clarke said, “Like you said, we kill anyone who gets in our way.”

Octavia nodded and they started their slow journey out of the room. Kane couldn’t put any weight on his right leg and his other one couldn’t keep up with the girls’ pace. Most of his weight was on their shoulders but they managed while holding guns aloft. They were lucky enough not to run into anyone as they snuck through the dark halls to a side door.

“Jesus,” Bellamy muttered as the three of them slipped out of the door. He looked at Lincoln as they took Kane from Octavia and Clarke.

Kane whispered, “Bellamy…”

“Shh, it’s okay,” he said in a hushed, strained tone. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Octavia led the way and Clarke brought up the rear, both with their guns at the ready. Lincoln and Bellamy lugged Kane along for what felt like hours. The pain in his leg was too great and he felt his consciousness slip away from him. It was like he wasn’t in his body anymore, but rather watching as the men hauled him toward safely. He couldn’t feel his feet dragging limply along the ground nor their hands under his arms.

They lowered him to the ground when they were a safe distance away. _Not a bad place to die,_ he thought, feeling wetness against his cheek as his head rolled to the side. He could hear leaves rustling in the night’s air and hushed voices he recognized.

“Shit,” Nate Miller whispered, crouching on the ground next to him. “What the hell happened?”

“Emerson happened,” Clarke said coldly.

“Clarke!” It was a voice he hadn’t thought he would hear again. It stirred strength within his limbs and he managed to lift his head and open an eye. He saw Abby run toward her daughter and the two women embraced tightly. Her eyes met Marcus’ over Clarke’s shoulder and he watched her face break at her eyes passed over his many injuries.

Clarke pulled away and walked to Bellamy, asking him what the plan was as he hugged her. He mentioned a rover on the other side of the small forest. Abby knelt next to him and lowered her med kit to the ground. She brushed his hair out of his face and ran her hands over his cheeks, wiping the blood away. She leaned down and pressed her lips to his, whispering, “You have to stop doing this to me.”

He croaked with as much of a smile as he could muster, “I’ll try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four weeks later and, finally, here's a new chapter! I stayed up all night writing this because I finally broke through writer's block and I wasn't about to lose the flow I had going by sleeping. So I hope I turned out okay. 
> 
> Thanks for being so patient with me! You guys are the best :)
> 
> As usual, reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!
> 
> -Lauren
> 
> P.S. I'm so sorry for doing something terrible to Marcus again :/


	8. May We Meet Again

_“We have to answer for our sins, Abby.”_

—Marcus Kane, “Resurrection”

 

* * *

 

They managed to get Kane into an unused room in City Hall on the ground floor. Lincoln and Octavia left after one last look at Kane, but Bellamy stayed, arms crossed as he watched the two Griffin women kneel next to the shallowly breathing body and begin to assess the damage.

Abby popped open the med kit and looked at her daughter; her face was pale, her eyes wide, her hands were shaking, and her head mirrored her hands. Abby looked away as she cut Kane’s pant leg to reveal the damage the knife had done. She was forced to pull away the tourniquet she had applied in the woods as she removed what was left of Kane’s right pant leg.

Abby whispered, examining the knife imbedded in his leg, “Stop the bleeding on the lower laceration, Clarke.”

Clarke didn’t move, she was frozen in her spot.

Abby looked at her and said sternly, _“Clarke!”_

Still, she remained frozen as she stared at the wounds. Bellamy moved from his spot on the wall and knelt next to her, grabbing the thick cloth and handing it to her. Her fingers curled around it and she looked at him, a frown on her face. He whispered, “You can do this.”

He moved her hand to the wound and pressed down. Though he was unconscious, Kane let out a grunt as Clarke regained her composure and applied pressure to the bleeding. Abby sterilized the needle and thread as she met Bellamy’s gaze. He had released Clarke, but remained at her side, ready if she needed help again. Abby gave him a small nod and he returned it with a grim smile.

Clarke muttered hoarsely, “I did this to him.”

Abby looked at her, watching her daughter’s hands release some of the pressure they were applying as they began to shake. She put her hands over Clarke’s, pressing hard on Marcus’ wound, and urged, “No you didn’t, Clarke.”

“No…No, I did,” she croaked, pulling her hands out from under her mother’s. She sank back and put her head in her hands. Her shoulders shook violently as a sob tore through her throat.

Abby pressed on Kane’s wound as she stared at her daughter. Bellamy placed a hand tentatively on her arm and Clarke sank into it. He wrapped his arms around her and looked to Abby for help. She whispered, “Get her out of here. Bring me someone who can help me.”

He nodded and helped Clarke to her feet. They were nearly to the door when she heard Clarke whisper, “I tried, Mom. I tried to save him.”

“He’s not dead, Clarke,” she called over her shoulder. She heard the door shut and lowered her head to Marcus’ chest, keeping her hands firmly on the wound. She felt the grief wash over her and blinked away the tears. She whispered against his shirt, “Do you hear that, Marcus? You are not allowed to die.”

A throat cleared behind her and Abby turned, hastily wiping away the tears.She found John Murphy standing in the doorway, he said, “The Grounder and Octavia are patrolling the woods with Harper and Miller, Nelson’s meeting with that village leader. I’m all you have.”

Abby nodded and said, “Come here, John.”

He knelt across from her and she noticed that the color had left his face. He looked over the two wounds, his eyes lingering on the knife still in Kane’s leg, before he met Abby’s eyes. Murphy ran a hand through his hair before he asked, “What do you need me to do?”

Abby lifted the drenched cloth and examine the laceration, finding that most of the bleeding had stopped. She reached into the med kit and grabbed the bottle of saline. She handed it to Murphy and said, “Clean the wound.”

He nodded and went to work as she laid out their supplies. He pulled away silently when he was finished and Abby leaned closer, examining the wound. A sliver of bone was visible within and she asked for tweezers, finding them in her hand within a second. She parted the skin, thankful that Marcus was in shock for this. She pulled out the bone and muttered, “Nothing more we can really do, not here.”

Murphy nodded and handed her the needle and thread she had set aside. Abby sutured the wound, working quickly and efficiently. Once finished, she handed Murphy a clean cloth and said, “I’m going to remove the knife now. Okay?”

He had grown considerably paler and she reached over, patting his hand. “You’re doing great, John.” He nodded curtly but she could see the fear in his eyes. He stared at the knife, clutching the cloth tightly in his hand, ready. “On the count of three: one, two three.”

She pulled the knife free with expert precision and Murphy immediately pressed the cloth against the wound that began to bleed heavily. He was breathing shallowly through his mouth as he looked anywhere but at Kane. While she waited, she raised Kane’s shirt to search for any other injuries. The bruising on his right side was blossoming into a deep purple and her hand rose to her mouth, clamping down to keep from crying out.

“Hey, are you okay?” Murphy asked gently. She nodded quickly, but he wasn’t convinced. “What is that bruising?”

“Broken ribs,” she said quietly, running her hand tentatively over the skin. Her voice rose in frustration as she added, “It could be a lacerated kidney too, given the location, but I need to take a scan to know for sure which I can’t do here!”

Murphy stared at her and removed the cloth, to reveal that the bleeding had stopped. “Then fix what you can.”

He grabbed the saline and cleaned the wound before he held out the needle and thread to her again. Her eyes softened as she looked at him. He lowered his gaze and urged her to take the suture supplies. She began with the holding stitch as she said quietly, “You didn’t have to do any of this, John. Why did you come with us?”

“Your boyfriend made a compelling argument,” he replied, watching her work.

“And what was that?” She asked, zigzagging the stitches up Kane’s thigh.

He replied, “He said that you needed me.”

“He was right,” she whispered.

When she finished, he had a bandage waiting for her. She placed it over both wounds and asked Murphy to lift Kane’s leg so she could roll a wrap around the leg. He did as he was instructed and held up the leg by the muddy boot, watching her hands as they worked nimbly over the tender flesh.

Abby leaned back after and looked down at Kane’s face, sighing. “We can’t really move him until he wakes.”

“Then it’s back to Camp Jaha?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Mount Weather would be preferable,” she replied, meeting his gaze. “And it’s Arkadia now."

Murphy let out a laugh, shaking his head. “Who came up with that?” She nodded at Kane. Murphy smirked and replied, “Of course.”

Abby pursed her lips as she looked fondly at Marcus. She blinked and turned toward the med kit, packing away everything. When she looked up, Murphy was on his feet, heading for the exit.

“You know, John, you would make a fine doctor,” Abby said quietly, watching him stop at the door. His back tensed and she wondered what was going on in his head. Slowly, he turned back to her, his eyes scanning the repair they had managed on the Chancellor’s leg.

He shook his head as his eyes met Abby’s. “No one would trust me enough to come for medical advice.”

“They would,” she said with an encouraging smile. “You wouldn’t believe how accepting they have been of the others—”

“The others haven’t done what I’ve done!” He said harshly.

She stared at him hard for a few seconds before she commented, “No, the others have done worse.”

 

* * *

 

It was nearing dawn when Clarke found her. Abby was curled in a sleeping bag on the floor at Kane’s side. Her eyes were wide open and they followed her daughter as she walked into the room and sat cross legged on the other side of Kane’s body. She adjusted the blanket over him absently before she met her mother’s gaze.

She whispered, “I’m sorry for last night.”

“Don’t be,” Abby said, shaking her head.

“Mom, I—”

She snapped, _“Clarke,_ you have nothing to be sorry for.”

Clarke looked at her in surprise for a moment before she rested her head in her hands. Her shoulders shook as she cried. Abby watched her normally strong and stoic daughter break down. She was used to Clarke being calm under pressure and able to handle anything thrown her way. She had seen this Clarke only once before and that was when she had lost her father.

Abby pulled herself out of the sleeping bag and walked around Marcus to kneel next to Clarke, gathering her in her arms. Clarke buried her face in her mother’s neck and muttered, “I almost got him killed.”

“Tell me what happened,” she whispered, stroking her blonde hair.

Clarke took her time, telling Abby everything. She started with guard duty on the parapet; moved on to their journey to the gymnasium; she talked of Reid taking Kane away immediately because he ‘wanted to see how much Kane could take before Emerson got to him.’ He had been brought in late the following afternoon, looking terrible with something different about his eyes.

Clarke pulled away when it was time to reveal just how Kane had received the knife injuries. She couldn’t look at Abby as she whispered, “He got hurt because of me. Emerson wanted to take everything I cared about and destroy it. I couldn’t make him stop because he wanted me to feel what he felt when I murdered his family.”

Abby wiped the tears from Clarke’s cheeks and whispered, “He’ll never get the chance to do that, Clarke.”

“How do you know?” She asked, blinking away the tears that just kept coming. Abby took her face in her hands and leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Abby whispered, “He won’t live long enough to get the chance again.”

 

* * *

 

Fading sunlight streamed through the windows as he opened his eyes. He groaned as the pain came back in full force and his hands tensed up at his sides, crushing the hand that had nestled itself within his. Abby let out a gasp and wretched her hand away, rubbing her other over the aching fingers.

She reached out for him and he shrank away from her. Her eyes strained as she looked at him, he hated that he was the cause of her pain. Kane’s eyes closed and tried to rolled away from her, but his leg — propped up on a crate — didn’t allow it. Abby whispered, “You shouldn’t move, Marcus.”

“Don’t call me that,” he whispered harshly, clenching his hands into fists. Abby moved away from him at the movement, her eyes wide. He swallowed with difficulty as he heard her breathing shallowly, he knew she feared him.

Her voice was barely audible as she replied, “Why?”

_“He_ called me that.”

“Emerson?”

“No,” he whispered. He couldn’t say his name, he wanted to erase it from his memory. What Emerson had done to him was nothing to what _Reid_ had done. He would gladly take countless knives to any part of his body if it meant what Reid had done would be expunged from his psyche.

Abby nodded in understanding. She whispered, “Kane, it’s going to be okay—”

He shook his head violently and said harshly, “I’m damaged, Abby, I always have been. I’m going to die sooner than later and you don’t need that heartbreak, not again.”

“Stop,” she said softly. He stared hard at the wall across from him, his body trembling. Abby continued gently, “You said we were in this together, I still am and I always will be.”

“I don’t feel like me,” he admitted, tears welling up in his eyes. He felt like there was nothing left of who he used to be. Reid had done things to him that Pike could never have thought of. Pike had been human once, but Reid — Kane thought — had been born an abuser.

“Kane,” she breathed, her voice cracking. A lump caught in his throat and the tears slid down his cheeks. “Kane, please, look at me.”

It was five minutes before he rolled over and he stared at the ceiling, unable to look at her. He could see her out of the corner of his eye, sitting against the far wall, her knees drawn to her chest with her arms wrapped tightly around them. It was another minute before she spoke. “Do you want any pain medication?”

“No.”

She nodded and leaned forward, resting her chin against her knees. She whispered, “I know what he did to you, Kane. At least what Clarke knows. I know it was worse than that. You have to know that I will always be here to talk it through with. I’m not going to turn you away.”

“Why?” He croaked out.

“Whatever he said to you, whatever you think you did to deserve this pain, you didn’t do it. Whatever we’ve done in our pasts, we’ve more than made up for it,” she said. “Given how many times we’ve almost died, Kane, don’t we deserve the chance to live?”

He rolled over and looked at her, wincing as he twisted his bad leg. “Why do I deserve to live? Why do you love me?”

She searched his face before she rose to her feet and crossed the room. She sat a few feet from him and said, “I love you because you are the best man I know. You’re a great father—”

“I’m not a father,” he said, lowering his gaze. She leaned forward and touched his jaw lightly. He flinched at the contact but she managed to lift his head, though his eyes avoided hers.

She said affectionately, “Yes, you are.”

“Abby—”

“You are, Marcus.” He flinched at the name but when she grabbed his hand, placed it on her lower abdomen, and held it there, his mind blanked. He stared at their hands on her stomach, forgetting entirely about Reid, about the pain in his leg and ribs and back. He blinked and felt a tear slide down his cheek. He looked up at her for confirmation and she was smiling at him. She whispered, “We’re having a child, Marcus.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I am so sorry for this chapter. Shit. But hey, Baby Kane's finally been revealed!
> 
> -Lauren


	9. Seclusion

_“I’m right here.”_

—Abby Griffin, “Resurrection”

 

* * *

 

The crutches leaned against the couch, his mangled leg was propped up on a pillow on the coffee table. The room felt so foreign to him, but he knew that if he went into the bedroom, he would feel like he was encroaching on a private place. He didn’t feel like he had a right to be there, but leaving their quarters would only bring attention to him. He knew that his absence in camp was causing enough worry as it was.

They had returned to Arkadia three days after he and Clarke had been rescued. He vaguely remembered their arrival and being helped out of the rover by Sinclair and Bennett. They assisted him to his quarters, fearing he was still too weak for the crutches that Raven had modified for him. Sinclair tried to raise up issues for the Council and hand back the power to him, but Kane shot him down. When Sinclair pressed, he lashed out, yelling loud enough for everyone in the corridor to hear that he wasn’t fit to lead.

That first day, there had been numerous visitors but Clarke was there to turn them all away. He wasn’t ready to see anyone, he still wasn’t and two days had passed. The knocks didn’t stop and Clarke wasn’t there to turn them away anymore, she had more pressing matters to deal with because he couldn’t. He simply ignored them and, eventually, he stopped hearing the knocks — not because they weren’t there, but because he was so wrapped up his own thoughts that he could barely process what was happening around him.

He remembered Abby kneeling in front of him that first night back and he had to blink the images away so he could see her. When he finally focused on her, he could only see the worry on her face. She gently took his hand, but he pulled it away. She told him that she was going to sleep in Clarke’s room that night, in the spare bunk. He didn’t question her and stared at the wall as she walked away. She found him in the same spot on the couch in the morning, the purple under his eyes telling her that he hadn’t slept a minute. She slept in Clarke’s room again the second night, but still their bed remained untouched and the purple had grown darker by the following morning. 

He knew he was causing her unnecessary worry, but he couldn’t bring himself to sleep, though his body desperately needed it. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Reid and the words he had spoken rang in his ears. Kane couldn’t live it again, even if it meant his body slowly shutting down.

“Are you sure he’s okay?” A voice behind him muttered. He hadn’t heard the door open nor his family’s noisy entrance. Clarke’s worry was touching but unnecessary, he should be worrying about her. She had been avoiding him, he figured it was because of the pain she had seen.

Abby replied in a whisper, “He’s coping.”

Abby, Clarke, and Benja came into view as they rounded the couch. Benja sat next to him before the girls could stop him and Kane stiffened, leaning away from the boy. The Grounder’s affection for him was the most confusing to him. In Kane’s eyes, he had kidnapped the boy, taking him from what remained of his people.

Benja’s mouth opened, no doubt to ask him a question he didn’t have an answer for, but Abby shook her head at the boy. He frowned and looked at Kane before he pulled away and stalked off to his room. Clarke muttered, “I’ll talk to him.”

“Thank you,” Abby said, watching her go before she looked at Kane again. She knelt in front him as if he were a child and asked, “Do you need anything?”

He shook his head.

“You’ve barely eaten since it happened, Marcus.” He didn’t flinch at the name anymore. Abby had spent the last six days convincing him that just because Reid had called him ‘Marcus’ over ‘Kane’ or anything else, it didn’t mean anything. His name wasn’t tied to the horror he had experienced at the Grounder’s hands. It was just a name.

“I’m not hungry,” he murmured. She sighed, but nodded. Slowly, she reached for the bandage on his leg but he said coldly, “Don’t.”

“I have to change them,” she said simply, a frown forming on her lips.

He shook his head. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Her brows furrowed in confusion. “Why would you hurt me?”

“The sight of it,” he whispered, staring at the dirty bandages, “the sight would hurt you.”

She felt herself deflate and her head fell to her chest. She asked quietly, “Will you let Jackson look at it?”

He stared at her for a few moments before he nodded. She pulled herself to her feet and left their quarters without a word. His eyes turned to the chessboard on the coffee table, trying to remember the game that lay abandoned on its surface. He thought it had been with Benja, but he couldn’t tell if that was a dream or not. Reality was blurred for him, he was losing his grip on it. He hardly felt like his body was his own, his mind was even worse off.

“She can handle it,” a voice behind him said. Clarke came around the couch and sat down next to him. His eyes scanned her face, taking in the healing wounds there. All that remained of her beating was the black eye — now dull yellows and greens — and the fat lip that had nearly subsided back to normal. “She’s tougher than you think.”

“I know she’s tough,” he whispered, unable to look at her suddenly.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Clarke said, “She loves you, you know that right?” He nodded slowly, unsure where she was going with this. “I love you too, so does Benja. And Rebecca and Bellamy and Octavia, even Lincoln, Jasper, and Harper. And Monty, Raven, Wick, Miller.” He frowned as she took his hand tightly in hers, making sure that he couldn’t pull it away. The names meant nothing to him, not now. He knew that he had to distance himself from them or he would hurt them too. “I don’t know what he said to you, but there are people here who are willing to fight for you because we love you.”

That wasn’t what he was worried about. He was worried about not being able to protect them. Clarke was injured because he couldn’t protect her from Emerson. He had left Bellamy, Octavia, Lincoln, Nate, and Harper in a war zone, unsure what their current status was. He couldn’t help them, not from here, not with this leg and crutches. He felt useless, he knew that Reid was right.

He couldn’t even help at Arkadia, he was in self-induced seclusion. Abby and Clarke had been meeting with the rest of the Council since returning to discuss the Mount Weather crisis and Emerson, but he couldn’t bare the thought of going to one of the meetings. He couldn’t sit there and listen to them while they cast pitied glances his way.

“Kane?” She was looking at him like she had asked a question. He blinked at her and she asked, “Will you forgive me?”

“For what?” He asked, frowning.

“For doing this to you.” She motioned to his leg before meeting his eyes again. “I’m so sorry.”

He just shook his head and she fell silent. He went back to staring at the chessboard. She reached out and placed her hand on top of his. He was tempted to pull away, but he could feel the tension in her hand and knew that he would cause her even more pain. He knew what it was like to watch someone be beaten in front of one’s own eyes. He knew the guilt Clarke was feeling, he felt it to.

“Kane? How did you deal with it?”

“With what, Clarke?” He asked, finally looking at her. She had tears in the corners of her eyes and he felt an overwhelming — and surprising — need to comfort her.

“With causing someone else’s pain,” she whispered, meeting his eyes. She tightened her grip on his hand and he let her lean against him, resting her head on his shoulder. “I know you feel it for what happened to Jasper and Harper, but they’ve forgiven you.”

“Don’t think for one second that I blame you, Clarke,” he said, looking away from her. He heard her exhale in relief and frowned. _There’s another person you’ve hurt,_ Reid’s voice said in his head. He felt a tremor pass through him at the sound. He never wanted to hear it again, but here it was, as clear as if the man himself stood before Kane.

Clarke looked at him with concern and asked, “Hey, are you okay?” He shook his head and she frowned. She leaned closer and wrapped her arms around his torso, squeezing him tight. She whispered, “It’s okay. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not real.”

He nodded and she held him tighter; he felt himself relax into her embrace after a few minutes and she continued to whisper to him, telling him that he was going to be okay.

“Clarke, what happened?” Abby stood in the doorway with Jackson, their entrance unnoticed by him.

Clarke pulled away from him, squeezing his hand as she did. “Nothing.”

She rose from the couch and went toward her bedroom, he saw Abby follow her out of the corner of his eye, determined to know what had happened while she was gone. Jackson walked over and knelt next to Kane’s injured leg.

“How are you feeling?” Jackson asked, opening the small med kit he had brought with him. Kane appreciated that he ignored what he had seen and was all business.

“Like shit, Jackson,” Kane muttered, wincing as Jackson unrolled the bandage. He pulled it away to reveal the two slices in his leg, just above the knee. The knee itself was purple from Reid’s 15-hour torture session. It wasn’t broken but Abby said that it would likely never be the same again.

Jackson just nodded and examined the two knife wounds. His fingers gently traced the tender flesh and he asked, “Has there been any new pain?”

Kane replied, “No.”

“Good,” Jackson said, nodding. “We’ll take the stitches out once it’s healed a bit more. The trauma was extensive.”

“I know that,” he muttered.

Jackson sighed and began to roll a clean bandage around his thigh. He was nearly done when he whispered, “You’re hurting her, you know that right?”

Kane frowned.

Jackson met his eyes and continued, “She just wants to help you, but when you do things like this, it makes it hard for her. Do you know what this is doing to her? She’s barely sleeping, a little more than you are, I hear. She lays awake in Clarke’s room, waiting to hear you call for her, waiting for you to need her. She won’t be okay until you are, Kane.”

“I don’t know how to be okay,” he admitted.

Jackson frowned and he said, “You need to talk to someone about it.”

Kane shook his head. “I can’t.”

“The funny thing is, Kane, that you can. You just don’t want to,” he said, rising to his feet. “I understand that the Grounder did terrible things, but you won’t be able to move past them until you accept that they happened.”

 

* * *

 

_The room was pitch black and silent. He never knew when a punch or a kick was coming. They startled him, shocked his system. The uncertainty was the worst, he thought. He could take the pain — he had experienced pain his entire childhood at the hands of his own father — but it was the unpredictability that was driving him mad._

_The hours blurred together and he lost track of time, unsure of how long Reid had been berating and abusing him for. He held his ground until Reid left some time in the early hours of the morning then he allowed himself to feel the fear. It consumed him and felt more real than the pain that coursed through his ribs, his knee, his head. His ears strained for the moment he heard the door open, the moment his_ torcha _was back._

_That’s what Reid called himself and it fit. He was good at it too, Kane felt like he was both on the verge of passing out and alert to any noise that was made outside of the vacuum that was his interrogation room. Reid’s return filled Kane with a sense of dread so intense that he felt sick to his stomach. A blinding light flashed in front of him and Kane tried to shut his eyes to it, but something smashed against his knee and his eyes snapped open on reflex as the pain overtook him._

_Reid’s chilling voice filled the room. “I’ve been given some information on you, Emerson did his research.” He leaned close, his breath tickling Kane’s ear. “You should really update your electronic security, Chancellor.”_

_He didn’t really understand what he was saying, he was too distracted by the pulsing light in front of him. Reid must have noticed that he had grown used to it because he quickly shut it off, plunging them into darkness._

_Reid’s voice was close when he spoke again. “You don’t like needles, do you? It’s here in your medical report, filed by your girlfriend. She was very thorough.”_

_A folder smacked him across the face and Kane moved his jaw after, testing it for any sign of fracture. It was completely silent in the room and Kane tensed against whatever might come next. Reid muttered in his ear, “This is going to burn.”_

_He gripped Kane’s arm and jammed something sharp into the bend of his elbow. He knew it was a needle and that made it worse for him. He squirmed away from Reid’s grip, but the ropes that bound him were too tight. He was forced to endure the wiggling of the needle within his skin before Reid plunged whatever the vial held into his vein._

_‘Burn’ was a mild way to put the sensation he experienced in the wake of the needle being removed. At first, he was relieved that the needle was gone, but then he felt it. It was like his veins were on fire, like he was burning from the inside out. He tried to scream but Reid had placed a cloth in his mouth of questionable cleanliness the second he was tied to the chair. He had known then that Reid wasn’t looking for information — he was looking to break him. As the injection consumed him, he knew that Reid was succeeding._

_The flashing light was back again and Kane shook his head, trying to escape it though that was impossible. Reid stood next to the light, his silhouette visible to Kane if he focused on it hard enough. The light was too much, so he didn’t look at Reid. “Should we talk about your girlfriend? About the things we could do if she was here?”_

_Kane was starting to lose it, he knew it. He stared at the floor as Reid talked about the ways he would defile Abby, about what he would make Kane watch him do to her. He felt the anger boil within him and when he finally looked at Reid as best he could, he found a smirk on his face. The Grounder stood in front of the light now, allowing Kane to focus on him. He wanted nothing more than to tear the man limb from limb, but he didn’t exactly have the advantage._

_Reid smiled and said, “You don’t like that, do you?”_

_Kane just stared at him._

_The_ torcha _laughed and said, “She wouldn’t either. Then again, you’ve nearly gotten her killed — was it twice, now? You never answered for those crimes against her, did you? Maybe we should take care of that.”_

_Something that felt like a hammer smashed against his knee and Kane screamed into the cloth._

 

He woke with a start, the scream dying on his lips. The light under Clarke’s door flashed on almost-instantly and the door opened a few seconds later. Abby’s eyes found his and he felt the tears prick at his eyes as he watched her hurry to his side. She knelt in front of him and took his hand in her own, whispering, “What’s wrong, Marcus?”

He fought to control his breathing before he responded, “A nightmare.”

She seemed almost relieved, probably because he had a least slept for a little bit. “It’s okay,” she whispered, reaching up to stroke his short beard. He flinched away from the contact and she let her hand fall but kept her other one firmly on his, grasping it tightly. “You’re not there anymore, okay? Nothing’s going to happen to you.”

He shook his head and she waited for him to say something. He finally said, “It already happened. Abby,” his voice broke on her name and he watched the tears collect in her eyes. “I don’t know how to come back from this.”

Her head lowered to her chest as she took in a ragged breath. She looked up at him again and whispered, “We’ll get through this together, okay?” He nodded and she smiled warmly at him, stroking the back of his hand with her thumb. “Do you want me to stay with you? We don’t have to talk. We can sit in silence, you can sleep if you want to.”

“Don’t leave me, Abby,” he found himself pleading though something within him wanted to scream at her to get as far away from him as possible. She nodded and settled on the couch next to him. It wasn’t long before he felt the tears take over and he was shaking. She wrapped her arms around him and he surprised her by sinking into her embrace. She whispered, “You’re going to be okay, Marcus. I promise.”

He nodded against her collarbone and gripped her tightly, afraid of letting her go and afraid of her staying.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual, reviews are always welcomed and appreciated! Let me know how much of an asshole writer I'm being by ruining Marcus Kane like this. 
> 
> -Lauren


	10. Not Alone

_“We all have battle scars…Suck it up and build a brace for yours.”_

—Raven Reyes, “Fog of War”

 

* * *

 

The sun had barely risen by the time she found herself in the Council chambers. Her night of comforting Marcus had taken its toll. She hadn’t slept for more than a few hours, her focus on him. He had dozed off around 5 o’clock, his head in the crook of her neck, his arms tightly around her. But a nightmare had woken him before six and Abby knew the prospect of sleeping herself was lost.

The others filed into the room — Clarke, Monty, Wick, and Penn — and sat around the table, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. Wick, as she knew it would be, was the first to protest the time of the meeting. He placed his head in his arms on the table the second he sat down and groaned, “Why so early, Chancellor?”

She decided not to correct him on the term he used — she certainly felt like the chancellor again with Marcus indisposed. He hadn’t left their chambers until he followed her out that morning, claiming that he needed some fresh air. She knew he wanted to escape the nightmares and that he was going out this early to avoid most people.

Abby said, “I want to know the plan for Mount Weather, Mr. Wick. You leave in an hour.”

“I could have gotten another hour’s worth of sleep,” he grumbled. “Did the Chancellor keep you up all night or something?”

“He did,” she replied, looking at him pointedly.

“We don’t need to know the intimate details of your relationship,” Wick said, peeking at her from his arms.

“He wasn’t doing well, Wick,” she said dryly. Wick pushed himself into sitting straight in the chair, a deep frown on his face. He nodded grimly and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Abby nodded but didn’t say any more on the subject. Talking about Marcus hurt her, especially to those he cared about, they understood her pain because they felt it to some degree too. She asked, “So how do you plan to get into Mount Weather if it’s already occupied?”

_“Kom fous_ | By force,” Penn offered, crossing his arms over his chest. He had chosen to remain standing, thinking it too formal and knowing he would be out-of-place were he to sit down at the table.

Wick shook his head. “Sheer force isn’t enough. We have to play this smart.”

“Wick’s right,” Clarke said, nodding. “We all shouldn’t go in, a few of us will work better. We won’t be detected as easily.” She looked at Abby and said, “You should be with us.”

“Why?” She asked, startled by the words. She had no intention of joining them.

“The wounded will need you if Ontari has attacked,” Clarke said quietly.

Abby asked, “And what about Nyko, Ash, and Wella? They’re all at Mount Weather—”

“We haven’t heard from them in days,” Monty objected. “We don’t know if they’re alive or dead. We need you, Abby.”

She frowned and glanced around the table at the sleepy yet alert faces. They all seemed to be in agreement about the issue, even Penn who she knew still had faith that the three healers were alive and well. Reluctantly, she nodded.

“Thank you, Mom,” Clarke said with a small smile. “We’ll gather what we need, you just get the medical supplies.”

The four of them filed out of the room and Abby headed for Medical. Jackson was on-duty, sitting on a cot with a book in his hands, his eyes red from being up all night. He glanced at the clock on the wall and asked, “Are you here to relieve me early?”

“I’m not here to relieve you at all,” she said with a shake of her head. He looked at her in confusion and she clarified, “I’m going to Mount Weather with the others.”

“Why?” He asked, abandoning the book on the cot to stride across the room toward her. He stopped in front of her and said sternly, “You know how dangerous it could be right?”

She nodded. “I’m aware. But it was argued that a doctor is needed in case there’s wounded.”

“Then let me go,” he pleaded, gripping her hand in his.

She shook her head. “I’m not risking you.”

“But you’re willing to risk yourself?” He said, brows lowering in anger. “Think about Clarke and Benja and _Kane_. Kane needs you here, Abby.”

“Clarke needs me too—”

He interrupted harshly, “She doesn’t. She’s been doing fine on her own. She can handle herself. Kane went through hell, he needs someone here he can turn to.”

“Don’t act like you now him, Jackson,” she said, pulling her hand out of his and walked toward the medical cabinet. She swung the backpack Clarke had given her off of her shoulder and started packing up bandages, gauze, morphine, suture kits, and anything else she could think of.

She turned and found Jackson watching her, glowering. She didn’t want to leave any ill feelings between them so she walked toward him and said, “I’ll have Kath and Troy relieve you as soon as possible. Get some rest.”

“Like hell I will,” he said quietly. “Not with you out there. There’s a war going on, Abby.”

She smiled and patted his hand gently. “I know that, Jackson. Will you check in on Marcus later?”

He nodded and she felt better about leaving. She walked out of the room, heading toward the exit of Alpha, wondering if Marcus was still outside. It didn’t take long for her to find him. He was sitting on the edge of the fire pit, his leg stretched out in front of him, his crutches on the grass behind him.

She watched him for a few moments, trying to judge the mood he was in. She couldn’t tell anymore, he kept his emotions guarded, preferring for them to remain his own private burden. She was reminded of the man he had been on the Ark, so closed off. He had been cold, distant; he was one of those things now, but she would prefer for him to be both, at least then she would know that he could feel something.

After showing so much vulnerability the night before, he seemed almost dead inside now. It worried her, frightened her even. _I don’t know how to come back from this,_ he had said. To be honest, she didn’t either. They had taken _her Marcus_ away and left a facade in place, a hollow man with nothing left of who he used to be, whom she had fought with, whom she had survived with, whom she loved. He just wasn’t there anymore.

Kane turned, acutely aware of her eyes on him. She gave him a small smile before crossing the yard to sit beside him. He didn’t meet her eyes, she didn’t expect him to anymore. She whispered, “How are you feeling, _ai niron?”_

His eyes found hers briefly as he blinked away a painful memory. Abby reached out, touching the back of his hand as he whispered, “How do you think I’m feeling?”

She gripped his hand and said, “I don’t know, Marcus. You won’t talk about it.”

“I can’t, Abby. I don’t know what to say,” he admitted after nearly a minute.

She offered, “Say whatever you want, I just want to help you.”

He shook his head. “I want to, I do, I just can’t.”

She sighed quietly but nodded. “Can you promise that you will when you are ready?”

“I can’t make any promises,” he shrugged. She squeezed his hand, wanting to provide whatever comfort she could.

She sat with him, watching Clarke carry a bag across the yard toward the hangar. She knew it was full of guns, ammunition, and smoke grenades. They weren’t taking any chances. Her daughter looked at her and tapped the watch on her wrist that used to be Jake’s. Abby nodded and said, “Marcus? I have to go. I’m going with them to Mount Weather.”

“Why?” He asked, staring at the logs in the pit.

“If Ontari’s already been there, the wounded will need me.”

“There won’t be any wounded,” he commented quietly.

“I have to go, Marcus.”

He just nodded. She watched him, wondering if he was going to say something further. When it was clear the silence was to be lasting, Abby released his hand and rose to her feet. She planted a kiss against his forehead and walked toward the hangar. His voice caused her to pause. “Be careful, Abby.”

His words were devoid of any emotion and that hurt more than it would have had he remained silent.

 

* * *

 

Kane found himself sitting in the makeshift library in Alpha Station after Abby left. Gina worked across the room from him, organizing the books from Mount Weather. Quiet music played from her iPod as she worked. He sat with a book in his hand, staring at the words. He was trying to read, he really was, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the place the book had come from, the place Abby and the others were headed for.

He kept reading the same line, over and over. _At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s biggest lie._ It had always struck a cord within him, every time his mother read him the book or he did it himself.

Was it the world’s biggest lie?

He didn’t feel in control of his life; he felt like fate was at work, toying with him, ruining him. Earth was nothing like he had imagined, but despite all of the hardship and toil, there was still good to be had.

_I’m going to be a father._

The thought suddenly popped into his head and he knew that Abby never should have gone to Mount Weather, he should have talked her out of it. They were nearly there by his watch and he thought of reaching for the radio and telling her to come home. She was in danger, fate had her by its unrelenting hands, ready to ruin her if it saw fit. Ready to ruin him.

“Is it bothering you?” Gina interrupted quietly, looking at him over a pile of books. He looked at her, blinking away his thoughts. She clarified, “The music. You look upset, I don’t want to be the cause of it.”

“You’re not, Gina,” he said quickly.

She looked at him for a while and he turned back to the book, staring at Melchizedek’s words on the page. He heard her footsteps on the floor and she sat in the chair next to his. He could feel her eyes on him and found himself whispering, “Thank you for watching Benja while Abby was away.”

She smiled. “He’s a good kid, he reminds me a lot of you actually.”

He shook his head. “I’m not good.”

“You don’t know yourself if you think that,” she whispered. He looked at her sharply, but she continued, “You’ve helped me, Kane. Those talks while you were away, they helped me.”

Kane almost forgot. Gina radioed several times while he was in Tonawa. Normally late when she figured he was alone, always about either Bellamy or her father, a guard killed in the Tondc missile attack months ago. He knew she wasn’t doing okay by her voice, her calls were never to check up on the mission he was on. He had done his best with her and it was a few days before he noticed a change in her voice. He knew she was going to try the same with him.

He was about to protest, to claim that he was a lost cause, when his radio went off, Bellamy on the other end. He didn’t reach for it as Bellamy called for him again. Gina was the one to answer, “The Chancellor’s busy, what’s going on?”

Bellamy hesitated but said, _“Tell him that Roan’s joining our forces together. Ontari bypassed Tonawa and attacked Buffalo yesterday—”_

“Is everyone okay?” She asked quickly. He knew that she was most worried about Bellamy because, despite how their relationship ended, she still cared about him.

_“We’re hurting. Denby, Smith, and Porter are dead. We’ve arrived to relieve them, Murphy’s bringing the injured to Arkadia, he’s been treating them.”_ He answered slowly, trying to ease her worry. Kane looked at the radio, wondering what brought about that change in the boy. _Abby, it was Abby,_ he thought as Bellamy continued, _“I just wanted to update the Chancellor.”_

Kane was nodding, taking in the new information. Gina said, “He says thanks.”

_“Is he okay, Gina?”_ Bellamy asked quietly, they could hear the concern in his voice.

Gina looked at him, unsure of how to answer. Kane reached for the radio and said, “I’m fine, Bellamy. Stay safe.”

_“You too, Kane,”_ Bellamy replied.

Gina took the radio from him and placed it on the table. She looked at him and asked, _“Are_ you okay?”

Kane frowned and said, “I’ll never be okay.”

“Not if you think like that,” she replied with a sigh. “It takes time, Kane. You’ll get there, I—”

“You what?” He asked harshly. _“You promise?_ You can’t promise that I’ll feel like myself again. You can’t promise that I’ll be back to normal. You can’t promise that I won’t get anyone else hurt!”

She balked and rose to her feet, shaking her head at him. “No, I can’t promise any of that. But, dammit if I’m not going to try.”

He watched her walk out of the library. He stared at his leg, feeling useless because he couldn’t go after her. He only felt worse now.

The door opened a few minutes later and he fully expected it to be Gina, but Raven walked in. She sat down next to him and picked up the book he had been attempting to read. “Feeling sentimental?” She asked before her fingers ran over the embossed title. “What has you reading _The Alchemist,_ Kane?”

“It was one of my mother’s favorites,” he whispered, staring at the cover of the book. Raven’s smirk faltered and she slowly handed the book back, apologizing. He ran his hand over the cover and said, “She always wanted me to have a Personal Legend, like the boy in the book. She wanted me to accomplish everything in life, but…I fear I’ve failed her.”

“How?” Raven pressed, crossing her legs on the seat, ready for a story.

He smiled sadly, still running his fingers over the raised lettering. “Look at me. Do you think my mother would approve of me now?”

Raven took a few moments to collect her thoughts before she said slowly, “I didn’t know your mother well, but I know what kind of person she was and she never would have disapproved of you.” She paused, staring at the cover of the book. “It makes a lot of sense for her to have liked this book. The whole ‘every dream is valid and not to be ignored’ thing, I feel, was how she lived her life.”

He nodded. “She was a dreamer, I always thought that she spent too much time in her head and not in the present. She ignored what was happening in reality in favor of the idyllic world she had created in her mind.”

“What did she ignore?” She pressed, staring at him intently.

He frowned and kept his gaze on the book’s cover as he replied, “My father.”

He thought she was going to drop it because she was quiet for such a long time. She finally asked, “Do you worry that you’ll be like him? With your child?”

He looked at her, his brows lowered, and he began, “How—”

Raven smiled, “It’s not that hard to figure out.” His eyebrow cocked up. “Abby let it slip when she was checking up on my hip yesterday. Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” he muttered. He hadn’t really had the time or mental capacity to process the fact that he was going to be a father. A _real_ father. Sure, he thought of Clarke and Benja as his children now, Rebecca too, and the Blakes, Jasper, Harper, Nate, even Gina and Raven herself sometimes. But none of them were actually his, he couldn’t look at them and see a part of him in their features. He hadn’t been there for them when they were younger, he hadn’t helped shape them into who they were now. This child would be his and Abby’s, he wanted that more than anything now.

“Have they reached Mount Weather yet?” She asked, mercifully changing the subject and glancing at the clock on the wall.

Kane shook his head. “They should only be a few miles away by now.”

“Wick’s just happy to be included again,” Raven said, smiling to herself. “He knows that I should be going, but if there’s trouble, my leg would get in the way.”

“I know what you mean,” he whispered, staring hard at the coffee table rather than at her.

“You know that you’ll get better, right?” She asked, trying to catch his eye. “You can still use your leg when it’s healed.”

“To limp around camp,” he scowled. “Abby said I might need to use a cane from now on.”

“That would amuse Wick to no end,” she said with a smile. He glared at her. She raised her hands in defense and continued, “But it would help you, you have to see that. Your life doesn’t have to be about being weak and damaged. You can still survive. I’ll help you out, I’ve been there, Kane. You’ll get better, I promise.”

He looked at her uncertainly, glancing down at the brace on her leg. She had no use of her leg, yet she got along fine. She couldn’t go on dangerous missions like she used to, but she still managed the day-to-day. He would still have use of his leg, his knee may be mangled but the rest of it would heal. He wondered if a brace would help him too.

“Hello? Earth to Kane,” Raven said, waving her hand in front of his face. “You still in there?”

He frowned and replied, “Not really, no.”

“Listen, I know what happened sucks and was horrible,” she began, staring down at his injured leg. “But you can’t let it change you. Think of what a dick you used to be, you don’t want to raise a child as that man. That kid deserves better. So do Abby and Clarke. You lost control, we all do. It’s how we fight back that makes us who we are. Get over it or you might as well be dead.”

His face turned cold as he glared at her. He spat, “Get out.”

Raven just shrugged and said, “Yeah, okay. Welcome back to the Ark, _Chancellor_.”

He frowned as he watched her retreat from the room, swinging her useless leg along. The door shut and Kane could only stare at his own leg, knowing that she was right.

 

* * *

 

The rover pulled to a stop outside the door of Mount Weather. Penn was the first one out, followed closely by his warriors and Clarke. The seven of them would sweep the Mountain then, when given the all-clear, the others would follow. Monty, Wick, and Mel were to disable the missiles in the control room; Jeff was to wait in the rover, ready for a quick exit if need be; Clarke and the others were to be their protection, just in case. Abby was waiting to see if she was even needed.

Abby watched her daughter disappear into the Mountain as she sat on the bumper of the rover. Wick sat next to her and said, “So, Raven tells me that there’s going to be a mini-Kane. Congrats.”

Abby frowned and said, “Not so loud. People shouldn’t know yet.”

“Why not?” He asked, leaning against the wall of the rover to better look at her. “Embarrassed it’s Kane’s?”

She rolled her eyes and said, “It’s too early. Given my age, something could still happen.”

“What are you, 35?” Wick said, grinning as he looked her over.

“You are a flirt, Wick,” she said, shaking her head.

His grin widened and he nodded. “Don’t tell Raven.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she said with a small smile.

Monty sat on her other side and said, “What are we talking about?”

“Kane and Abby,” Wick answered immediately. Abby’s eyes widened at him, but he continued, “What do you make of those two crazy kids together?”

Monty shrugged, staring at the door to Mount Weather. He seemed reluctant to weigh in on the subject. “You guys seem happy.”

“Why are we talking about this?” Abby wondered aloud, glancing at Wick out of the corner of her eye. She didn’t want him to let her secret slip on accident, she didn’t trust Wick to be careful enough with the conversation, he wasn’t one to be delicate.

“The welfare and happiness of our chancellors is important, Abby,” Wick said seriously.

“Marcus is the Chancellor,” she was quick to point out.

“That’s not what he said,” Monty said quietly. She looked at him and he continued, “He told Sinclair that he was unfit to lead.”

“When was this?” Abby asked, frowning.

“After you got back. I believe you went to Medical to get some pills for him and Bennett and Sinclair stayed with him,” Monty said, wracking his brains. “Sinclair said that he tried talking about Arkadia and Council business with Kane but he just yelled at him.”

“He’s having problems,” Abby whispered. Before she could say any more on the subject, Wick’s radio went off and he answered, “What’s up, boss?”

Clarke’s voice came through and she said, _“They’re all dead. Someone’s been here.”_

Wick looked at Abby as he replied, “All?”

_“Yeah. Nyko, Ash, Wella, all of Lexa’s injured warriors. They’re all dead.”_

Wick’s eyes were wide as he replied, “Any sign of Ontari?”

_“Not yet, but—”_

The radio fell to the floor, an arrow sticking out of its center. Wick held his bloody hand against his chest and cursed as he stared out the back of the rover. “What the hell?”

Abby’s eyes widened as she saw the movement on the tree line and said urgently, “Drive, Jeff!”

“What?” He asked from the front seat, lost in conversation with Mel.

“Drive!” Wick yelled as the archers popped out from the trees and readied their bows.

Monty pulled out his gun and leveled it on the warriors, ready. The rover lurched forward and Monty barely managed to keep his hands on his gun. Abby scrambled further into the rover, shaking as two arrows hit the spot she had just vacated. Monty began to fire, but it was fruitless. The arrows were coming so quickly from the tree line that they nearly blocked out the green. Abby worried that they would hit a tire, then they would all be in trouble.

She tore her eyes away from the incoming arrows as a scream sounded from her right. She looked and felt a coldness pass through her. Wick was slumped against the vehicle’s wall, barely managing to stay in the speeding rover. An arrow stuck out of his chest and he was staring at it blankly.

“Monty, get him back here!” Abby yelled as she hurried to his side and tried her best to pull him fully into the rover. Mel came from the front seat to help and, together, the three of them managed to get Wick laying on the floor. He cried out in pain as the blood began to leave his body in earnest. Monty shut the door, an arrow narrowly missing him. He knelt at Wick’s side a moment later.

Abby pressed her hands around the arrow, quickly coating them in red. Monty stared down at the wound, his eyes wide with fear at the sheer amount of blood coming out of his friend. Abby said, “I need your help, Monty.”

He shook his head frantically. “I can’t.” She didn’t know that he was picturing his best friend being shot in the chest in nearly the same exact spot. She didn’t know that his mind went to Jasper nor that he was figuring out Wick’s chance of survival. All she knew was that his fists were tight at his sides, that he was attempting to control the shake that passed through him.

_“Please,”_ Abby pleaded, trying to keep the pressure on Wick as he cried out.

Monty’s hands trembled as he placed them over hers, leaning over Wick’s body, pressing down as hard as he could. Abby nodded at him and grabbed her medical kit, popping it open.

“Mel!” The mechanic looked at her and hurried to Wick’s side. Her eyes were full of tears but there was a fierce determination on her face. Abby caught her eye and said, “I need you to hold him in place, this is going to hurt.”

Mel nodded and knelt over Wick’s head, placing her hands on his shoulders to steady him. Abby handed Monty a large cloth to apply to the wound once she had the arrow removed. Her hands went to it but Wick’s rapid breaths caused her to stop, a deep wheezing sound coming from him. She muttered, “It hit his lung.”

“Can you save him?” Mel asked, staring down at Wick’s chalk white face.

Abby took a deep breath and knew that in all likelihood, Wick was going to die. But she nodded to Mel in answer and grabbed her scalpel. She cut the skin above and below the arrow, widening the wound and giving her more room to see inside. Wick cried out, the sound dying halfway through as he gasped for breath. “It’s only going to hurt more, Kyle.”

He nodded, his eyes squeezing shut, his fists clenching at his sides. Mel tightened her grip on him and kept her eyes on Abby as she slid her hand into the wound and felt down to the point of the arrow head. Wick bit back another scream as her hand came in contact with his lung where the arrow had lodged itself.

She didn’t let his pain faze her. She handed Mel a hand-operated ventilator. Abby moved up his body and grabbed the breathing tube. “Tilt his head back.”

Mel did as she was told and bent his head at the neck back toward her. Abby inserted the breathing tube swiftly and grabbed the ventilator, attaching it the end. “Keep him breathing.”

Mel nodded and began to pump the ventilator with one hand as she kept one of his shoulders steady. Abby moved back to the arrow and pulled it out slowly, making sure not to tear the lung any further. She grabbed the forceps and spread the skin apart so she could get in there with the needle to sew the leak shut. She got to work, placing pads inside his chest to stop the bleeding as best she could.

Monty pulled away and walked shakily toward the back of the rover where he promptly threw up. Abby continued as if the interruption hadn’t happened, though the stench of the bile wasn’t doing anything good for her. She moved the needle inside of Wick, closing up the lung bit-by-bit.

“Kyle?” She called five minutes later, her hands still deep in his chest. Abby looked at Mel, who stopped the ventilator. It was complete silence in the rover — no one was breathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated! I'm so sorry for this.
> 
> -Lauren


	11. Deliverance

_“How did you get to be such a dick?”_

— Raven Reyes, “The 48”

 

* * *

 

He was sitting with Raven in her workshop, attempting to apologize for his actions earlier, when Sinclair came in with the news. The words flitted to Kane as if they came through water, muddled and slow. He reacted long after Raven did, the words hitting him half a minute after they did her. _Wick’s dead._

His body froze, unsure of how to process it. It wasn’t until Sinclair left to help move Wick’s body from the rover did he know what to do. Raven turned to him — tears in her eyes, her body shaking — and he opened his arms to her on reflex. She sank into his embrace and sobbed against his chest, her arms wrapping tightly around his back as he stroked her hair lightly. He wasn’t sure why he was doing it, but he knew in the back of his mind that it was the right thing to do.

They stayed like that for a long time, Raven soaking his shirt with her tears and him running his hand absently over her hair. His mind was on Abby though, wondering where she was. He wondered if she needed comfort, too. He knew he should be pushing her away for her own safety, but he couldn’t stop himself, he needed her.

“Kane?” Raven whispered against his shirt, gripping the back of it tighter like she needed it to keep herself upright. He nodded and she said, “Why does this keep happening?”

He frowned, unsure of how to answer. He truly didn’t know why this kept happening, why people kept dying, why Raven kept losing those she cared about. He remembered floating her mother — a drunk who couldn’t resort to trading her daughter’s rations once she had turned eighteen. It happened a few months before they came to Earth, she had stolen one too many bottles of moonshine. He knew Raven never grieved for her. But Finn, mercy killed four and a half months ago, she had certainly mourned. He thought she would always feel something for Finn, just like he thought Abby would always feel something for Jake. He never understood how someone could go on after death, how they could love again. But Raven had loved Wick, Abby loved him. It was baffling to him.

“Maybe it would have been better to have pushed him away,” Raven mused, adjusting her head to rest on his shoulder. Her breathing was normal again, her body still, but he could feel new tears wetting his shirt.

He whispered, “You can’t think like that.”

She pulled back and looked at him sharply. “How can _you_ say that?” His brows lowered in confusion and she nearly rolled her eyes. “You’re doing that to Abby.”

Again, he just looked at her.

Her anger overshadowed her grief and she pulled herself away to stand in front of him. Her eyes were red and puffy and her breathing became uneven again but it had nothing to do with the tears anymore. Her eyes were narrowed at him and he sat under her hard gaze, waiting for the worst.

She spoke slowly, letting each word sink in. “You’re pushing Abby away, everyone can see it. She’ll never tell you, but you’re hurting her. She’s stressed out, do you think that’s healthy for the baby?”

“I didn’t—”

“Exactly, you didn’t think, Kane!” She shouted, tears sliding down her cheeks again. He knew she had more to be upset about than just him, but it felt like it was all because of his actions. She was another person he had hurt, another person he had let down. “Abby has enough on her plate — Clarke’s still missing for fuck’s sake! She shouldn’t have to worry about her 40-something depressed boyfriend!”

“I’m not—”

Again, she cut him off. “You _are_ depressed, shut up. You need help, just accept it and stop being a di—”

“Raven!” Kane looked passed Raven and found Monty standing in the doorway. His eyes were red but wide with shock. He crossed the room and took her by the elbow. “You shouldn’t be working, come on, I’m taking you home.”

She shook her head, her eyes on Kane; he could tell she wasn’t done with him yet. Monty’s grip on her tightened and he said, “Doctor’s orders.”

Her eyebrow rose. “Abby’s barring me from work again?”

Monty began, “She has your best interests—”

“No, she doesn’t!” She yelled, glaring at Kane again. “She’s punishing me because he’s being distant.”

Monty sighed and shook his head. “That has nothing to do with it. Come on, let’s go.” He started to pull her away again but she wrenched her arm out of his grip and, with one final glare at Kane, left the room. Monty turned to him and whispered, “She’s not okay. I’m sorry.”

“It is fine,” Kane mumbled. Monty studied him for a few moments before he nodded and hurried after her.

 

* * *

 

Her hands were red, the skin raw from scrubbing too roughly. She would have kept going if Jackson hadn’t found her at the sink, crying and ruining her skin with the scrubby. They ached now, but the skin would heal. The pain was better to focus on than thinking about Wick and the blood that had covered her.

But the longer Bennett talked about the memorial they would host for all of the dead, the longer she squeezed her aching hands, trying to push the thought out of her head. She could still hear Wick’s wheezes as he died, she could still feel his lungs pulsing as they worked overtime to get him air while she tried to suture them. She could hear his laugh too, as he teased her about Marcus and the baby. It was strange, he had been so happy just before his death, joking with her and trying to ease her worries.

“Abby?” Sinclair asked, interrupting her thoughts.

She sighed, trying to remember the question he had asked just before. She smoothed her hands on the metal table, letting the cold surface soothe them. “How about 8 a.m. on Sunday? The wounded in Medical should be healed enough to attend by then.”

Bennett made a note of it and opened his mouth to speak again but the door opened and Abby stared across the room at the intruder. He leaned heavily on his crutches and seemed…different. The crutches made their usual _click_ on the metal floor, but they were louder now, snapping against the floor as he crossed the room with purpose to take his usual seat next to her.

Marcus glanced at her briefly before he leaned the crutches against the table and asked, “Why wasn’t I notified of this meeting?”

“We thought you wouldn’t want to come,” Gwen said uncertainly, casting a glance Abby’s way.

Abby didn’t know why he was there either. In the day since Wick’s death, she hadn’t seen him once. She had been in Medical, tending to the newly returned guards from Buffalo. She had spent her night in surgery with John Murphy, fixing Aidan Helm then two Grounders.

“You should leave that decision up to me, Gwen,” Marcus said coldly. He turned to Abby and asked, “What’s the status of the guards in Medical?”

She frowned at him, unsure of why he was acting this way. Still, she answered, “Harper’s arm is completely broken, not just her wrist. Helm has a massive laceration in his side, we fixed it in surgery. Liza Warren is unconscious, she suffered a blow to the head. Jones Meikle’s wound reopened from a blow by a sword. Hill is unconscious, I’m not sure if he’ll wake. We have several Grounders who came with them, they have no healer.” She looked him in the eye, hoping that him showing up to the meeting wasn’t just a formal facade. She added, “I think you should speak to Ellicott.”

The old Marcus — _her_ Marcus — would have inquired about who Ellicott was and why he should speak to him, but this man brushed it off with a curt nod. She had sat across from this Kane many times on the Ark, she didn’t know why he was back. She wondered what had made _him_ resurface. She frowned as he turned to the others and her eyes met Gwen’s. They wore matching expressions of concern and continued to share looks as Kane was filled in on the other issues they had already discussed.

 

The meeting was adjourned and the other members filed out. They cast wary glances at Kane before leaving the room, their parting whispers hung in the air. Abby rose to leave too but Kane said, “Stay.”

She looked at him, surprised, as the door shut behind Bennett. She sank back into her chair and waited for him to say something. She didn’t wait long, it was barely ten seconds before he said, “What happened to your hands?”

There was a hint of concern in his voice and she hadn’t heard that from him in a while. She said matter-of-factly, “They are fine, Marcus.”

_“Abby,”_ he chastised, brows lowering at her. “That is not an answer.”

She sighed, running the fingers of one hand over the back of the other. “I needed the blood off.”

“You act like you don’t regularly have blood on your hands,” he said tactlessly. She didn’t know if he meant literally or figuratively, but she figured that, either way, he was right. She nodded and he continued, “You think you’re the only one hurting, Abby. Other people feel it too. But you’re on the Council, you can’t let it get to you.”

And there it was. They were back on the Ark. She had heard about his explosive argument with Raven — well, about Raven screaming at him. The way it sounded, he had sat there silently as she let all of Alpha Station know how she felt. Abby couldn’t help but wonder if that was it, if that had been the turning point for him.

She frowned at him, his eyes making her feel uneasy for the first time in a long time. She said quietly, “I’m allowed to be weak, Marcus. I’m allowed to grieve.” Her eyes shot to his, anger swelling up inside of her. She knew he wasn’t okay, she knew she shouldn’t be losing her temper with him, not after what he had been through. But when he was like this, she couldn’t help herself.

Her voice was raised as she continued, “Just because you can’t feel anything, Marcus, doesn’t mean I don’t. My daughter is missing, Wick is dead, the others in Buffalo are in danger! Yet you act like nothing has changed, like we’re still in the past discussing the possibility of killing unknowing citizens in their sleep!”

He stared at her blankly for a moment and she wondered if she went too far. But his eyes turned cold again as he spat, “I do feel something, Abby. You think I don’t care about Clarke? You think I’m not worried about her safety? You think I don’t care that Wick’s dead? You think I don’t worry incessantly over the safety of everyone in Buffalo, of everyone I left hundreds of miles from us? Because I do, I just can’t talk about it. Not after…”

He trailed off, tears in his eyes as he turned away from her. Abby felt the tears prick at her own eyes and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. He shrugged it off and reached for his crutches. Abby got to her feet and stood in front of him, blocking his path. She whispered, “Marcus, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

He nodded. “You shouldn’t have.”

She sighed and placed a hand lightly on his shoulder, this time he let it stay. She whispered, “It will be okay. We’ll get there.”

“Nothing will ever be okay, Abby,” he said. He didn’t look at her, but he didn’t pull away either. She whispered, “It will. Please don’t lose hope.”

She knew he was going to say that he already had but he kept it to himself, something she was grateful for. She couldn’t hear that, she couldn’t hear that he had already given up though she knew he had. She wondered if she would have done the same had she gone through what he had too. She figured she would never know.

She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead before she handed him his crutches and left the room.

 

* * *

 

The moonshine didn’t taste the same as it used to. He stared down into the mug, at the liquid within, wondering why it wasn’t as strong as _fayawoda._ In some ways, he missed the Grounder drink, but in others, it reminded him too much of the man who had inflicted the damage onto his very soul. He couldn’t differentiate between culture and individual. He knew it was stupid, but he found that his mind wasn’t working properly anymore — that it couldn’t perform its usual tasks like it used to.

“Another, Chancellor?” Macallan asked, holding out the bottle to him. Kane nodded and he filled the mug again before moving down the bar to where Sinclair sat with Monty and Raven. The three of them glanced at Kane every few minutes, but they didn’t join him or speak with him. He enjoyed the solitude their courtesy allowed.

“Mr. Chancellor?” Kane turned to find Cara Costa standing by his side. The little girl seemed so out of place in the bar and the fact wasn’t lost on her. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she looked warily up at him.

“What can I do for you, Cara?” He asked, trying to hide the fact that he was on his third mug of moonshine.

She didn’t seem to notice and said, “There’s something you should see, mister.”

He froze as she took his hand and pulled on it. She immediately released him and he stared at her for a moment before reaching for his crutches. She watched him stand unsteadily before leading the way out of the bar.

She walked slowly, allowing him the opportunity to keep pace. She didn’t tell him where they were going, but as she led him across the yard, she talked about something else. “Is my dad coming home soon?”

Elijah Costa was in Buffalo, fighting alongside the other guards and the Grounder warriors. Kane had no idea when those guards would return or what state they would be in. He couldn’t lie to the girl, but telling her the truth would hurt her. He worried that her father would never come home, that he and the rest of the guards he had sent would die hundreds of miles away.

Still, he found himself saying, “Yes, Cara, he’ll be home soon.”

The girl smiled and they continued in silence until they reached the edge of the football field. She pointed to the lone figure in the center of the grass and said, “I thought he shouldn’t be alone.”

Benja was kicking his football as hard as he could at the goalpost before chasing after it to repeat the process. Kane whispered, “Thank you, Cara,” before he made his way to the boy. Benja didn’t realize he was there under Kane was right next to him and stopped the progress of the ball with one of his crutches.

His eyes were red with tears and he glared at Kane. He spat, _“Chit yu gaf?_ | What do you want?”

“English, please, Benja,” Kane whispered.

The boy shook his head vehemently as he kicked the ball hard at the goalpost again. He said harshly, _“Trigedasleng, beja, Markos.”_

Kane sighed and watched as the ball came near enough for Benja to kick again. The post rang out in the still night air as the ball collided with it. It soared across the field toward the makeshift bleachers. Kane headed toward them as Benja ran for the ball to continue his therapy.

He watched him for a while, wondering how long he had been at it. He knew it was late and that Cara had likely been with him before, keeping him company. But with Elijah away, there was no way that Helena wanted her daughter out nearing midnight. He wondered where Abby was, he hadn’t seen her since she left the Council chamber earlier that day. She must be busy with the wounded for Cara to have come to him.

The longer he thought about it, he realized he hadn’t seen Benja since before Wick’s death. After leaving Raven, he had spent most of yesterday in his bedroom, reading. It was an old book his mother had loved, one he had always thought an odd choice. As he lay in bed, propped up by the pillows, the room outside was silent, no one entered or left all night. At another time — when he was fully himself — he would have been worried, but last night, he had been glad for the silence. Now, watching Benja’s anger and grief take its toll on the football, he wondered where the boy had gone.

Wick had taken Benja under his wing recently. Besides being his football coach, the two had been seen in Engineering, Wick sometimes showing Benja how to use the tools or teaching him about basic chemistry. They all thought Wick would take Benja on as an apprentice when he was old enough. Kane couldn’t help but wonder if Benja would give up on that dream now.

He looked up when he no longer heard the rhythmic thumping of the ball hitting the goalpost. Benja stood in the middle of the field, rolling the football beneath his foot. His eyes seemed vacant as he stared down at the grass. He looked suddenly at Kane and his eyes darkened. Benja’s anger was no longer directed at the ball on the field Wick had helped construct for him; it was directed at Kane. He kicked the ball at the bleachers and Kane caught it just before it hit him in the face. He stared first at the ball then at Benja as he stomped across the field toward him.

He stopped just short of the bleachers and put his hands on his hips, his little shoulders rising and falling rapidly as he breathed heavily. His voice was harsh as he said, _“Chomouda yu ste dula dison op?_ | Why are you doing this?”

_“Dula chit op, Benja?_ | Doing what, Benja?” Kane asked, setting the football in his lap.

_“Yu don swega em klin yu na ste os_ | You swore you would be okay,” Benja spat. Kane opened his mouth to retort but the boy wasn’t done with him. _“Yu laik moubeda kom dison! Chit don kom au, kom au, nami? Pul yu op, yu nou na wan raun seintaim._ | You are better than this! What happened, happened, okay? Pull yourself up, you’re not dying too.”

Kane stared at him for longer than he should have, but the boy stood his ground, arms crossed over his chest as he glared at him hard. Slowly, Kane nodded. Benja didn’t believe him though because he kept going, _“Chek yu au, Markos. Ha dison ste noseim kom chit don raun Polis kom au? En’s nou—_ | Look at yourself, Marcus. How is this different from what happened in Polis? It’s not—”

_“En’s noseim, Benja!_ | It is different, Benja!” He yelled, his anger swelling up inside of him. To his surprise, Benja didn’t back down, his glare intensified and he took a step closer to Kane, his fists clenching. _“Yu nou get chit kom au._ | You don’t know what happened.”

Benja yelled, _“Tel ai op hashta em!_ | Tell me about it!”

“No—”

_“Ai don sin foto diyo in. Ai na gada em in_ | I have seen bad things. I can bear it,” the boy interrupted. Kane watched the anger evaporate as he sat down next to him on the makeshift bleachers, all of the fight in him escaping.

Kane sighed and glanced down at the boy sitting close to him. Slowly, he wrapped his arm around him and Benja sank heavily into his side. He had lost so much in the past month — his family, his home, his friend — Kane couldn’t withdraw trust too. He couldn’t blame him for letting his anger get the better of him either, he was guilty of it often too.

Kane said, _“Ai na tel yu ething op._ | I will tell you everything.”

They sat there for what seemed like hours — Kane talked and Benja listened. As the time waned on and the words came more naturally, Kane felt like a weight was being lifted off of him. He felt lighter than he had in months, ever since he was elected chancellor at the start of the year. He had paid the price of leadership many times over and it was a relief to talk it over with Benja, who proved to be the perfect listener.

_“Em na ste os_ | It will be okay,” the boy whispered when Kane finished. It was the first time Kane could see that statement being true.

 

* * *

 

Kane woke the following morning to Abby standing next to the bed. He stared at her groggily and she held out a brace to him. His crutches were nowhere in sight. His eyebrow cocked up and she answered his unasked question, “A gift from Raven.”

“Raven?” He asked as he sat up in bed and flung the blanket off of him. Disappointment flickered on her face as it was revealed that he had slept in his clothes. It disappeared though and she was back to business within a moment.

She nodded and said, “She gave it to me this morning, she said she had some free time since I barred her from working.”

“Why would she do this for me?” He asked, staring at the metal contraption.

“A peace offering,” Abby said as she offered him the device again. He sighed and took it. “She doesn’t like how she left things with you.”

“I don’t either,” he muttered as he struggled with the straps. Abby knelt in front of him and helped. A smile tugged at his lips as she secured the brace around his knee. She didn’t see it though and stood to leave him alone again.

“How long were you standing there?” He called as she neared the door, not wanting her to go.

“It’s dawn, Marcus, you always wake with the sun,” she said, a small smile on her face. His eyes followed her as she turned and left the room. He sighed and pushed himself from the bed.

Standing was easy with the brace, it did the work for his affected leg. He stared down at it with wide eyes before he tested it out by walking the length of the room slowly. He smiled and went to the dresser to grab a new shirt. He stripped off his old one and headed for the door as he pulled the new one on.

Benja was at the small two burner making tea, an old football game was paused on the projector, and Abby sat on the couch, medical reports in her hands. She didn’t look up when he entered the room but Benja did, a small smile on his face. Kane returned it, feeling well despite what the day was about to bring. He walked slowly toward the boy and asked, _“Chit kaina dison?_ | What kind is it?”

“Black,” he said as he poured from the kettle. Kane smiled as he was handed a mug and took the third one, heading for Abby. He held it out to her and she took it absently. She looked up after a moment, her eyes wide as she realized it was his hand that had given her the mug. Her eyes softened as they settled on his and she smiled at him.

He sat next to her on the couch and Benja took his usual spot in the chair. He reached for the control and the game resumed, the images flickering on the flat wall. Kane watched, but knew that his usual enthusiasm wasn’t there. But, for the first time in weeks, he felt like it might come back.

Abby reached out and absently ran her thumb over the back of his hand as he watched Arsenal get pummeled by Bayern Munich. He wondered if this could be normal, if this should be normal — watching football with his family on a quiet morning, Abby’s hand on his as they drank tea. But the memorial crept into his mind, cozying up to stay with the ever-present thought that Clarke was still missing.

The game ended and Abby whispered, “It’s time.”

He nodded and Benja took the mugs from them to clean up before they set out from their quarters. They joined the group heading toward the area behind Alpha Station they had designated as their graveyard. Abby broke from him — she was leading the memorial they had decided. He continued with Benja and ended up next to Bennett.

He stood with Sinclair, the prisoner William Lacroix between them. Despite all the former guard had done, he deserved to mourn the loss of his friends properly. He had asked days ago when he had found out about their deaths, Kane couldn’t refuse him.

The four bodies lay next to their graves and the memorial was simple like all of the others. Raven said a few words for Wick, as did Sinclair. Kane wrapped his arm around Benja as he stared at Wick’s body being lowered into the ground. When it came time for someone to speak for the guards, he realized that he was the most likely person to say something as head of the guard. He knew them best. Abby didn’t look at him though, she had prepared something and he knew it was better than anything he could have come up with at the time.

The sound of shovels in dirt filled the air and people began to head home or to the bar. Bennett and Sinclair turned, their grips on Lacroix’s arms tight, as they started toward Lockup. The prisoner whispered, “Wait.”

“Why?” Bennett asked.

“I want to say something,” Lacroix said, glancing at Kane. “To him.”

Kane frowned and glanced down at Benja. The boy nodded and walked toward Abby who was heading toward Medical. She looked Kane’s way when Benja reached her but kept going, taking the boy’s hand in her own. Kane turned back to Lacroix and waited.

He took a breath and said, “It didn’t have to happen the way it did.”

“No,” Kane said slowly, wondering where the conversation was headed. “It didn’t. It didn’t have to happen at all.”

Lacroix nodded. “You’re right. It didn’t. I know that. Are you going to keep me in Lockup for the rest of my life, Kane? Aren’t you one to forgive?”

“I will never put a gun in your hands again,” Kane said harshly, glaring at him.

“I don’t expect you to,” he replied quietly.

Kane frowned and glanced at Bennett then Sinclair, they wore matching expressions of concern. He said, “We’ll discuss the terms of your imprisonment at the next Council meeting.”

“Thank you, Chancellor,” Lacroix said, not letting his delight show. Bennett raised an eyebrow at Kane as they led the prisoner away. Kane frowned, unsure of what to make of the situation but didn’t have long to reflect on it.

“Hey,” Raven said, walking to him with Jasper at her heels. She looked down at the gray brace on his knee. “That looks good. Is it working fine?”

He nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

She said, “I had the time and needed to distract myself.”

He didn’t say anything to that and nodded again. He started to walk away but Jasper called, “Can our esteemed chancellor steal away from camp for a few hours?”

Kane held the highest authority in camp, of course he could leave. He nodded slowly and Jasper clapped him on the shoulder. He said, “Good! Meet us in thirty minutes in the hangar. We have a surprise for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One month later, I finally have a new chapter. But hey, moving and getting used to a new country isn't easy. I'm settled into Korea now, so hopefully it won't take this long for a new chapter -- the key word there is "hopefully." Anyway, here it is at long last, I hope it was worth the wait. As usual, reviews are always welcomed and greatly appreciated. 
> 
> -Lauren


	12. The Root of Eden

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that's it's been three months since I last updated. There's been no time with teaching and dealing with family problems an ocean away. I'll try to do better, but I can't make any promises.

_“Either you pull yourself together and you get on with your life or you fall apart alone.”_

— Monty Green, “Watch the Thrones”

 

* * *

 

Kane nearly turned around when he saw the sheer number of delinquents waiting for him at the rover. Technically three, but he grouped all of the young people in the _delinquent_ category now, making the total five. He wondered if they would be okay with him calling them that — he thought Raven would take it as a compliment, given what she did to get to the Ground. But Gina might not be so keen on the idea.

He passed Rover 1 on his way and saw the arrow holes in the back door. The blood had all been washed away, but the damage remained. As he neared the kids, he could see the damage there too. He knew Raven was an expert at dealing with heartbreak and loss, but the others were showing their grief. Gina had been close to Wick during school; he actually introduced her to Bellamy. Monty and Wick had worked together before Monty’s arrest while he was training for the engineer program and had spent a great deal of time together on Earth working on various projects. But when they spotted Kane, their faces changed and they hid the pain they were feeling.

“You showed,” Gina said, a forced smile on her face.

“I told you he would,” Raven said, walking toward the driver’s seat. “Come on, we’re wasting daylight.”

Kane raised an eyebrow but climbed into the back after Jasper, Monty, and Rebecca. The rover lurched forward and Rebecca took his hand; he fought the urge to pull it out of hers. He knew he had to try for normalcy. He looked across the back at Jasper and Monty who were whispering to each other, their mouths barely moving. Kane sighed and leaned his head against the wall of the vehicle, letting the motion of the cab move his body as it went over what he assumed was a bumpy field.

Rebecca’s hand tightened over his and he glanced her way. She was staring at him, her brows furrowed. He sighed and asked, “What is it?”

She shrugged and said, “It’s nothing really; you seem different. Better.”

He studied her and saw hope beneath the concern on her face. “I’m trying.”

Rebecca nodded and squeezed his hand again. “I know.”

He glanced across the rover at Monty and Jasper, finding their eyes trained on him and Rebecca. He pulled his hand out of hers and stared at the brace on his leg, trying to ignore their gazes. Their concern was too much for him and unexpected given the fact that he had ordered the arrests of all three of them. They should hate him, _why didn’t they hate him?_

Jasper and Monty were whispering again when he looked up some minutes later, but they kept glancing his way. He frowned and ran a hand over his bad leg as if touching it would somehow heal the extensive scar tissue. He stared hard at the piece of metal attached to his leg, both thankful for it and detesting it at the same time.

“We’re here!” Raven called from the front. Kane looked up, unsure of how long he was looking at the brace for. Monty gave him a tentative smile but Jasper clapped him on the shoulder as he stood and said, “You’re going to love this.”

Kane’s brows furrowed but, still, he followed the three kids out of the back of the rover. They were in a clearing, Gina and Raven stood by the tree line, beckoning them over. Raven said, “It’s not far in.”

Kane didn’t need to follow them, he remembered exactly where he had planted it. Five months may have passed, but he led the way as if he made the journey every day. He strolled over the roots of the large trees on the way, letting the brace do the work for his right leg.

The Eden Tree was small still, but had grown at least half a foot in the past few months. He knelt in front of it and put his hand on its leaves, relishing the familiar feel of it. He had grown up with the tree and it was strange to see it larger than he had always known it, even if it was only by a few inches.

“Welcome home, Kane,” Raven said from behind him. He glanced back and found her looking not at him but at the small tree. She walked over and sat next to it, the others came over and did the same. He stared at them for a moment before he sat opposite it.

“Brewed this especially for the occasion,” Monty said, pulling a bottle of moonshine from his bag.

“And what occasion is that?” Kane asked curiously as the bottle was passed to him. It was heavy in his hand and as he unscrewed the lid, the overpowering smell flooded his nostrils.

“Memorial,” Raven said, motioning for him to take a swig of the alcohol. He didn’t; instead, he said, “We just had one.”

Gina smiled sadly and said, “Not really our style. We prefer to drink it away.”

Kane looked at Jasper and the boy raised his hands. “I don’t partake too much.”

He nodded and raised the bottle to the kids surrounding him. “To those we’ve lost. May we meet again.”

“May we meet again,” they echoed. He took a drink of the moonshine and passed it to Rebecca. It went to Gina next, then Raven. She said quietly, “Wick always liked your moonshine, Monty.”

Monty smiled as he watched her take a drink before handing the bottle to Jasper.

“Maya would have liked this,” Jasper muttered. They all looked at him and he was frowning deeply, running his thumb over the bottle of moonshine. Kane was about to lean across the small space to grab it from him, but to his surprise, Jasper passed it along to Monty.

Monty took a large gulp of the alcohol and said, “I heard my dad died saving a bunch of kids when they landed.”

“My dad died in the Tondc missile attack,” Gina said quietly, her voice breaking on the last word. Rebecca gently took her hand.

“Your fathers were good men,” Kane commented as the bottle came back to him from Monty’s hand. He leaned heavily against the trunk of the tree opposite the Eden Tree and stared at it as he took a swig of the alcohol. “Mine wasn’t.”

“Mine wasn’t either,” Rebecca admitted.

“Same here,” Raven said. “My mom too.”

“I think my parents are dead,” Jasper said quietly, staring at the forest floor. He toed a rock with his boot, trying to take his mind off of the radio silence from the other stations they were still experiencing. 

Kane frowned and handed the bottle off to Rebecca. He said, “You don’t know that. They could be out there, trying to make contact.”

“Or they could be in a crater from one of the crashes. Or they could have blown up on the way down. You don’t know what happened to them. You don’t even know what station they were on!” Jasper shouted.

“Just because you’re not fine, doesn’t mean that you should take it out on everyone else!” Monty said quickly, glaring at his best friend. All eyes were on Monty as he continued, “No one knew if they were going to make it to Earth. You can’t expect him to keep track of where everyone was, that’s not okay.”

A tense silence descended on them until Jasper muttered, “Sorry.”

He was staring at the ground again, not able to meet Kane’s eyes. Kane said, “Don’t worry about it.”

“Well, this got depressing,” Raven said, leaning across Gina to snatch the bottle from Rebecca. She took a large swig of it and kept hold of the bottle as she said, “We’ve all lost people, but we can’t focus on that. We have to think of the good; that’s how I got through Finn’s death, that’s how I’m getting through Wick’s, that’s how I’ll survive whatever death comes next.”

Kane became silent as the others started sharing stories of their lost loved ones. He was only half listening as Monty started telling about the few times his dad had “accidentally” forgotten to lock up the medicinal herbs whenever Monty and Jasper were on volunteer duty in the Farm Station growing labs. He knew Raven was right and that he had to stop thinking of all of the bad that had happened; he couldn’t think of the people he had lost, of those he had gotten killed, of those he had left in harm’s way — it was distracting him from what mattered: his family, his people, his home, those who were still very _alive._

“Kane, what about Vera?” Gina asked, pulling him out of his reverie. She had a smile on her face after telling a story about her father’s role in helping set up Camp Jaha. “Why was the Eden Tree so special to her?”

“It was a symbol of Earth,” he said quietly, looking at the small tree before glancing around at the much larger ones surrounding it. “This was always her dream, making it here. The Tree was her only connection to this place — she thought it was so idilic,” he frowned, “she was wrong.”

Rebecca said, “There’s still good here, it’s not all death and destruction.”

“It’s mostly death and destruction,” Jasper commented. Kane sat up suddenly and Jasper thought he had said something wrong but Kane raised a hand to silence them. To his surprise, they all quieted, barely breathing.

It was silent for a few moments then the cracking of twigs and branches broke through. Kane motioned for the kids to get as low to the ground as they could, hoping that the dense trees would hide them. He reached for the handgun at his hip, thankful he had thought to grab it before meeting them in the hangar — they may not have been going out on a mission, but it was still very dangerous outside of the walls. He pushed himself to his feet and pressed his back to the tree he was against.

The sounds were coming from behind the tree and he clutched his gun to his chest and undid the safety as the noises grew louder. He took in a deep breath before he turned quickly and sidestepped the tree, facing the advancing person. The gun was level with their face but he found his hand shaking when he met her eyes.

“Kane,” Clarke breathed as she lowered her gun. She ran to him and he did a quick scan of her, taking in the leaves in her hair, the blood and dirt on her clothes, the tear in her shirt. Penn and what was left of his warriors trailed behind her, looking just as worn out.

He lowered his gun as Clarke slammed into him — he was thankful for the tree behind him to keep him on his feet, his brace wasn’t prepared for the impact. Clarke’s arms tightened around him as she buried her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on top of her head.

She whispered into his jacket, “We have a problem.”

“What?” He asked, stroking her hair, overly aware of the eyes on them. A twig snapped behind Penn and the warriors parted to let the man through. Kane froze in Clarke’s arms as he watched him come closer. The kids rose to their feet as they watched him approach. Clarke whispered, “We ran into him on the way, he followed us.”

Clarke released Kane as Thelonious Jaha stopped a few feet from them. He said, “Hello, Marcus.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for being patient with me, everyone. :)
> 
> -Lauren


	13. Into the Abyss

_“Life is a fight…Live, breathe, suffer.”_

— Thelonious Jaha, “Day Trip”

 

* * *

 

The teenager sat across from her, staring hard at the table. He looked as if he was about to step into the airlock on the Ark. Abby tried smiling at him, but he wasn’t looking at all. She said, “You’re not in trouble, John.”

He looked up at her. “Then why am I here?”

“You’ve been with Medical for a few days,” she began, glancing down at the patient files he had been responsible for since joining the Medical team. “I want to know how you’re adjusting.”

“I’m fine.”

She waited for more but he remained silent. She pressed, “Are you enjoying your work?”

“It’s better than cleaning up trash.”

She smiled at him. “You’re doing well here. I’d like to talk about your patients. You have Robert Hill under your care; how is he?”

Murphy was stone-faced as he said, “He’s not going to make it.”

“How do you mean?”

“He’s in a coma, he’s not showing any signs of improvement.”

“It’s been two days.”

He shook his head. “You didn’t see what happened to him in Buffalo — he was hit in the head with a club. Believe me, he won’t wake up from that.”

“We’ll talk to Yui,” she said, frowning as she made a note in the chart. “How about Jones Meikle?”

He sighed. “He’ll be fine. His friends should be banned from visiting.”

“Why’s that?” Abby asked, a smile tugging at her lips.

“They’re always here and they’re so loud,” Murphy said.

Abby nodded. “I’ll talk to them. How about Aidan Helm?”

“He’s awake and talking. That kid of his never shuts up or leaves,” Murphy said with a scowl.

Abby nodded absently as she made another note. Parish was a very enthusiastic kid, she knew that. He was sometimes in her living room when she got home from work, playing with Benja, Cara, and Reese. Sometimes, she would have to ask them to leave so she could have some peace and quiet after a long shift. Marcus used to get them to quiet down before she got home. Lately, he hadn’t been making the effort though.

“Can I go?” Murphy asked bluntly. His shift was over and she knew that he wanted to go see Emori who had started working in the distribution center. Abby nodded again and watched him head out the door. He didn’t get very far before the doors of Medical opened and in walked Clarke, Kane, and Thelonious Jaha. Abby stood from her desk and ran out to embrace her daughter but Clarke shook her head slightly to stop her advances.

Murphy stopped in his tracks and said to Kane, “What the hell is he doing here?”

Kane raised his hands in defense and stepped between the teenager and the former Chancellor. “Listen, John—”

“I’m not listening to anything,” Murphy said, scowling as he tried to push passed Kane.

“It is good to see you, John,” Jaha said, a smile on his face. He glanced at the patients before looking at Murphy again. “You’ve done well since I last saw you. I assume some of these people are under your c—”

“Go float yourself!” Murphy snapped. “Where’s Otan?”

“He’s fine—”

“Bullshit!” Murphy yelled. “If he’s still with you, he isn’t fine.”

Jaha raised his hands defensively. “He’s with Emori.”

“You let him be alone with her?” He spat as he shoved passed Kane to get out the door. “She’s probably dead already!”

Jaha called after him, “Otan won’t hurt her.”

“Float you!”

The room fell silent as the doors slammed shut behind Murphy. Abby stepped closer to the group and asked, “What’s going on?”

Kane walked to her and took her arm. Quietly, he said, “Thelonious came across Clarke and the others in the woods.”

“We can talk openly about this, Marcus, I have nothing to hide.” Thelonious said, much louder than necessary. Everyone looked at him, even the patients.

“In my office,” Abby suggested, wary of the curious eyes surrounding them. The other three followed her in before she shut the door. She leaned against her desk as Marcus did the same. Clarke leaned against the wall near her mother, a small scowl on her face as she crossed her arms and watched Jaha. Abby asked, “What is this all about? Where have you been, Thelonious?”

“I’ve been in the City of Light,” he answered simply. Abby glanced at Kane and saw him pinching the bridge of his nose; he had clearly heard this before.

She almost didn’t want to ask, but she knew she had to. “What exactly is the City of Light?”

Jaha took a step closer to Abby as he said, “It’s a place where all are welcomed, Abby. There is no pain in the City of Light.”

“I can’t listen to this again,” Clarke muttered before leaving the office as she shook her head. Abby glanced at Kane before looking at Jaha again.

“Your daughter doesn’t believe,” Jaha said. “But, trust me, the City of Light is the answer to all of the trouble in this world. The wars, the future disasters, everything. The City of Light will save us.”

“Future disasters?” Abby asked. “What do you mean by that?”

“This world isn’t stable, Abby. We need to be saved.”

“Some of us still believe in this world,” she retorted.

Jaha smiled and started toward the door. “You’ll come around. You all will.”

As he disappeared from sight, Abby turned to Kane and asked, “What did he mean by ‘future disaster?’”

Kane frowned as he replied, “He mentioned an apocalypse, but I can’t take anything he says seriously.”

“We should take everything he says seriously, Marcus,” Abby rationalized.

He sighed but nodded. “I’ll see what Raven can find out.”

 

* * *

 

Kane sat at his desk the following afternoon, feeling so out of place in a space that was meant to be his sanctuary. The Chancellor’s office hadn’t been occupied since he had left for Niagara nearly a month ago. It felt unnatural to be there, but he had to work. He had been fully reinstated as the Chancellor at the emergency Council meeting that morning. Sinclair didn’t want the responsibility of dealing with Jaha and Kane didn’t blame him.

He stared at the tablet in his hands, the radioactivity report from Raven on the screen. The levels were high, much higher than they should be. He didn’t know what to do. She told him not to worry just yet, she would poke around and find out what she could.

The door opened without ceremony and in walked Gina. She held a radio in her hand and it was a second before he realized that the radio was his. She said, “Sorry to interrupt, Chancellor, but you left this in the library this morning. Bellamy has been radioing for the past fifteen minutes. It’s urgent.”

He nodded and she handed him the radio before heading toward the door. He called, “Thank you, Gina.”

“You’re welcome, sir,” she said without turning around. The door shut quietly behind her. He stared at it for a moment before pressing the talk button and saying, “Bellamy, are you there?”

His voice crackled through the radio, _“Kane?”_

“I’m here, son.”

_“We have a problem, sir,”_ Bellamy began. _“Ontari’s army has split in half, some going to Niagara, the rest heading for Mount Weather.”_

Kane frowned to himself. “Don’t go to Niagara. _”_

_“Why?”_

“Trust me,” Kane said. He couldn’t really remember why — he had been half-conscious with a knife sticking out of his leg — but he knew that going to Niagara was a bad idea. “It’s something that Emerson said while Clarke and I were hostages. Go to Mount Weather — we have to take it back. We’ll meet you there.”

_“Are you sure you’re up to it, sir?”_ Bellamy asked, his voice laced with concern.

“It’s where I need to be, Bellamy.” He said simply. “Get there as quickly as possible. We’ll meet you by the end of the week.”

_“Yes, sir.”_

Kane squeezed the radio as he ran a hand through his hair. He thought, _Back to the war…_

“Am I interrupting?”

Kane’s head snapped up and his eyes met Thelonious Jaha’s — he hadn’t heard the door open. Jaha stood just inside the office and was watching him curiously. “If you’re wondering, I didn’t hear much of the conversation.”

“What can I do for you, Thelonious?” Kane asked, setting down his radio.

Jaha smiled and sat opposite him without invitation. “It’s not the question of what you can do for me, but rather what I can do for you, Marcus.”

Kane stared at him blankly.

Jaha’s smile remained and he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small blue chip. Kane glanced at it before meeting Jaha’s eyes again. He asked, “What is that?”

“This is the key to the City of Light,” Jaha began. Kane could tell that he had given this pitch many times over from the way he spoke. “With this chip, you won’t suffer, as there is no pain in the City of Light. I know the pain you feel, Marcus. Your leg will always hurt you, but with this chip, you won’t feel any of it.”

“Pain is what makes us human,” Kane said simply.

Jaha’s smile still hadn’t faltered, it was becoming unnerving. “Life is about so much more than pain, Marcus. Life should be about overcoming pain. There’s no reason to suffer. You live, you breathe, but you fight. You fight through the bad. That’s what this chip offers you.”

“It’s not fighting if it does all of the work for you, Thelonious.” Kane scoffed. “Have you seen yourself lately? You’re not the same man who left the Ark. What happened to you out there?”

“I found the City of Light, it’s as simple as that. If you want to know what happened to me, you’ll have to discover it for yourself.” He stood and placed the blue chip on the corner of Marcus’ desk. Kane stared at it as Jaha walked slowly out of the room. The door shut behind him and Kane reached for the chip, turning it in his fingers.

 

* * *

 

A crowd surrounded Thelonius and the Grounder named Otan that night at dinner; there were more tonight than there had been the previous night. Abby watched him, listening to the words that drifted over to them as he preached about the City of Light to his would-be disciples. She rolled her eyes as she turned back to the group at her table. Jackson sat across from her, studying the small blue chip in his hand. Raven leaned over and pointed at something on the chip. She asked, “What’s the infinity symbol for?”

Jackson shrugged. “Could just be the AI’s insignia?”

Raven looked across the table at Abby and asked, “Has Clarke said any more about how they came across Jaha?”

Abby shook her head and said, “No. She seems to be hiding something.”

“That sounds like Clarke,” Raven muttered as she turned back to Jackson and the chip. “So, this thing alters brain function?”

“It seems to,” Jackson began. “Other than that, I’ve only been able to gather that it’s a silicon-based inhibitor.”

“What kind of inhibitor?” Sinclair asked from Raven’s other side.

“Pain,” she said, not looking at him. She whispered something to Jackson — a joke, Abby thought — and he grinned.

“If it’s just a pain inhibitor, what’s so bad about it?” Gwen asked, absently picking at the boar on her plate. Bennett sat next to her in their impromptu dinner Council meeting; Kane was busy meeting with the guards. Jackson and Raven were their “experts” on the subject of the chip — they had been studying the thing for the past day together.

“It clearly does a lot more,” Jackson said, setting the chip down only for it to be picked up by Raven. She turned it over in her hands. He watched her as he continued, “We know that it blocks pain, but it provides an alternate reality too. Jaha talks about the City of Light like it’s an actual city, a real place. How safe can it be for your consciousness to be in two places at once? Is one more real than the other? If so, which one?”

“I assume the City of Light is more real to them,” Raven said, her fist clenched around the chip as she looked across the room to where Jaha and Otan were. “Just look at them. They don’t exactly seem ‘present,’ do they?”

“Thelonious was acting odd this morning,” Bennett said, frowning. They all looked at him. “I asked him if he was going to move back into his and Wells’ quarters in Alpha Station or take a new one in Gedanes. It was like he didn’t remember Wells at all. He just looked at me blankly.”

Jackson and Raven looked at each other before standing abruptly. Raven said, “We’ll check it out.”

They left quickly, talking quietly to each other. Abby sighed and looked back at Jaha. Behind her, Sinclair said, “We’ll figure something out. First, we should ban those chips.”

“That’s a decision for the Chancellor,” Gwen said quietly.

They all knew that getting Kane to decide on anything these days was fairly hard unless it was his idea. He had decided to go to Mount Weather on his own but they all knew that if any of them had suggested it, he would have ended their earlier meeting abruptly. Abby knew he was slowly getting better, but he could still be volatile one moment then extremely quiet the next. She found it very hard to read him these days.

“We’ll broach the subject at the next Council meeting,” Abby said.

Sinclair shook his head. “We can’t wait that long. These things are dangerous.”

“I second that,” Bennett said, nodding.

Abby sighed. “Fine. We’ll call an emergency meeting again tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, my personal health put writing so far on the back-burner that it took me a while to find it again. I don't know when the next chapter will be.
> 
> Thanks for your patience,  
> Lauren


	14. Em Don Sad Klin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title means "He made his choice."

_“There’s nothing like a little pain to remind you you’re alive.”_

—Raven Reyes, “Echoes”

* * *

The Council meeting was delayed a few days while Kane was scouting Mount Weather. It was finally set for ten o’clock on Thursday morning. Abby walked into the room at 9:45 to find Marcus sitting at the table. He had been missing all morning, but Abby had been at a meeting with Sinclair to discuss Benja’s future in engineering, leaving her with no time to search for him.

He held one of Thelonious’ chips in his open palm, staring hard at it. Abby paused in the doorway, afraid he was about to take it, but he turned when he heard her footsteps and looked at her as he squeezed the chip tightly in his hand. She walked toward him and asked, “What are you doing with that?”

He shrugged. “Thelonious gave it to me. He told me I wouldn’t feel pain.”

Abby took his hand and said, “Those aren’t safe. They block out your bad memories and everything associated with them.”

“I know. I wasn’t going to take it,” he said, opening his hand and offering her the chip. She took it and placed it in her pocket, vowing to smash it later. She gently took his hand and ran her fingers over his.

“Are you okay?” She whispered. He nodded, but he was frowning. She sighed, “Please, Marcus, tell me if I can do anything to help.”

He said, “I just have to deal with it on my own.”

“What is it this time?”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “The nightmares; my mind is constantly replaying that night in the school. Then there’s the pain in my leg.” He looked like he was about to cry; she squeezed his hand tighter, causing his eyes to meet hers. “I can’t take it, Abby.”

“You don’t have to bare this burden alone, Marcus,” she whispered. “I’m always here for you.”

He nodded and squeezed her hand back. “I’m sorry if I’ve worried you, _ai niron._ I never meant to.”

“I know.”

He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. He whispered, _“Ai hod yu in.”_

_“Ai hod yu in seintaim,”_ she replied, smiling because he was using Trigedasleng.

They were silent for a few minutes before Abby asked, “When do you leave?”

“As soon as the meeting is through,” he admitted. “We’re going early to set up a perimeter. The army will arrive tonight.”

All she could do was nod. He squeezed her hand, forcing her to look at him. “Don’t worry about me. You have problems to sort out here.”

She nodded and replied, “Don’t remind me — Thelonious is almost as difficult as Ontari.”

“If anyone can solve him, you can.”

“Are we interrupting?” Sinclair stood in the doorway, Bennett behind him.

“Please, join us,” Kane said. They walked into the room and took their seats at the table.

“I hear you’re heading out today,” Bennett said, leaning forward against the table. “What does that mean for Jaha?”

“Abby has that taken care of,” Kane answered.

“Are you sure you should put all of that on Abby?” Sinclair asked. “You’re taking Murphy and Jackson with you, who does that leave her with? The other trainees?”

“I can manage. I have Raven too,” Abby replied.

“Actually,” Kane hesitated. Abby frowned at him. “I need her for Mount Weather if we get in.”

Abby sighed. “Fine. I’ll manage somehow.”

“Just throw him in Lockup and be done with it,” Bennett suggested.

“And what about the other people he’s influenced?” Sinclair asked.

“Throw them in too. Give us time to figure out what needs to be done.” He replied.

Abby sighed — she didn’t like the plan, but she had to admit that it was the only thing that made sense. He couldn’t be on the loose while they tried to slow the effects of the drug. Reluctantly, Abby nodded. “He’s not going to go without a fight.”

“Who?” Gwen asked, walking into the room. “Jaha?”

Abby nodded again.

Gwen sat next to Bennett and frowned. “Are we throwing him into Lockup? I had to confiscate one of his chips during a lesson today. He’s giving them to children.”

Marcus and Abby shared a look. Kane said, “We’ll place a 24 hour security detail on him—”

“We don’t have enough of the guard left to fight Jaha’s forces,” Bennett reasoned. “He’s already turned 30 people to his side. I’m sorry, Kane, but we can’t fight two battles right now. You’re going to have to choose between Ice Nation and our own people.”

“We’re not turning our back on the Coalition,” Kane said sternly.

“So you’re choosing the Grounders over us?” Bennett asked.

“We _are_ Grounders,” Kane said, “like it or not.”

“Kane’s right,” Gwen said quietly. “We can’t back out of the Coalition just because we have some unruly citizens. We can control Jaha with the forces we have. We still have 20 guards in Arkadia, we’ll be fine. Besides, Penn’s army is just outside the gates; if need be, we can call for help. And forget about Reyes, we have Sinclair to deal with the problem.”

“Never say, ‘forget about Reyes,’” Sinclair said, his brows furrowed. “You should understand how valuable she is. I wouldn’t be standing here without her.”

Everyone knew that Sinclair had fallen into a spiral when his wife was murdered by Charles Pike. It wasn’t common knowledge, however, that Raven had helped pull him out of it. Kane knew that Sinclair had done the same for her after the loss of Wick. They were as close as father and daughter, he knew that Sinclair considered Raven his own daughter at this point.

“So,” Kane began, watching Sinclair’s anger dissipate. “Abby, Sinclair, and Helm will deal with Jaha. Start with confiscating his chips, but we can’t lock him up because he hasn’t technically broken any laws. What we can do is place a 24 hour security detail on him. I would suggest Jones Meikle — he’s smart enough to resist Thelonious and strong enough to overpower him if need be.

“I’ll be taking Clarke, Raven, Jackson, and Murphy with me to Mount Weather for some recon before the army arrives,” Kane said, a little grim faced. Abby knew he had to be worried about today and the upcoming battle.

“And what if it doesn’t work with Jaha?” Gwen pressed.

“We’ll figure something out,” Abby said, trying to turn Gwen’s attention away from Marcus. He was getting tense, she could see. He would either blow up or just leave the room, that was his style nowadays as far as she could tell.

Thankfully, Gwen dropped the subject. The meeting moved on with the war dominating the discussion. Jaha was set on the back burner for now as Ontari took precedence. They concluded the meeting and the others filed out. Kane grabbed Abby’s hand and steered her out of the room.

They walked in silence along the hallway until they reached the hangar. He stopped them just inside the door, against the wall. He held her hand tightly in his as he watched everyone load up the rover. Clarke was leading the group, telling people where to put the supplies. Benja sat on the back of the rover, hindering the group’s progress, as he chatted with Clarke.

“You could stay behind,” Abby whispered, her eyes on Marcus. “You’re the Chancellor, you can just lead. You don’t have to go off to war.”

“What do you think members of the Coalition would think of us if our leader didn’t join the warriors?” Kane said, frowning. “I am the leader, I have to lead by example.”

“Just be careful,” she said, squeezing his hand.

“I can try,” he replied, turning his attention back to the workers. After a few moments, he whispered, “How are you feeling?”

“About you going…?”

“No,” he said, facing her and taking both hands. “How are _you_ feeling?”

“Oh!” She said, realization dawning on her. “I’m okay.”

“Are you telling me the truth?” He asked. She nodded. _“Abby.”_

“I’ve been feeling a little nauseous,” she said candidly.

He frowned. “That’s normal though, isn’t it?”

She smiled at him, stroking his beard affectionately. “Yes, it is.”

She didn’t want to tell him that nausea this early in a pregnancy was uncommon, as she was only a month or so along. She wasn’t going to worry just yet. She knew older pregnancies were always risky but she was certain that hers would be successful.

Benja ran over to them after his goodbye to Clarke. He hugged Marcus tightly around the waist. He whispered, _“Ste klir._ | Be safe.”

_“En yu_ | And you,” Kane said, hugging him back with as much strength as he could muster. _“Kep em klir in._ | Keep her safe.”

“I don’t need anyone to keep me safe, Marcus,” Abby muttered.

“I know, Abby.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips against her forehead.

A throat cleared to their right and they found Clarke standing there. She said, “We’re ready to go, Kane.”

“I’m coming,” he replied. He wrapped his arms around Abby and squeezed her tight. He slung his arm around Benja, too, and pulled him against them. He whispered to Clarke, “Are you allergic to hugs?”

She rolled her eyes and joined for a few brief moments before pulling away. “Okay, enough of that. Let’s go.”

“Be safe,” Abby whispered, squeezing Clarke’s hand.

“I will,” she replied before walking off to the rover. Kane kissed Abby’s cheek before following her.

* * *

The rover stopped 5 kilometers away from Mount Weather. Ellicott, the Grounder, wobbled out of the back door. Kane knew he didn’t want to come, but he had important information for the king and Kane didn’t think Roan would believe them if it didn’t come from the horse’s mouth. The Grounder had been rather silent the short trip and Kane hoped he would be willing to testify to Roan about Erie.

Murphy, stepping out of the rover, asked, “What’s the plan?”

“I want you, Clarke, and Ellicott to scout the area, see how far Ontari’s perimeter extends,” Kane replied. The three of them set off with their radios. Kane turned to Raven and Jackson. “I’ll help you two to set up the medical station. There’s not much we can do before the army arrives.”

“You got it, boss,” Raven said, grabbing the largest crate from the back of the rover.

“Whoa, let me take that,” Jackson said, lifting it easily from her hands. He walked away toward the clearing and Kane saw Raven glare at her own useless leg.

She caught his eye and said, “Jaha offered me one too.”

It took him a moment to realize that she meant the chip. He asked, “What did you do with it?”

“Used it for research,” Raven said with a casual shrug. “What else would I do with it?”

“Nothing, I guess,” he replied.

She was silent for a moment before she said, “You know we’re meant to feel the pain, right, Kane? Even if it gets in the way of our happiness.”

He nodded, but she didn’t believe he was convinced. She continued, “It’s how we remember we’re human. ALIE makes people into shells of their former selves — mindless bodies. You don’t want that. You have a kid on the way.”

“I know,” he said, smiling slightly. “I was never going to take it.”

“Good,” she said. “That’d be a mind wasted.”

“So would yours,” he commented.

“I know, I’m awesome.”

He smiled as she grabbed a smaller crate and headed toward Jackson, who was setting up the tent. They had camp set up by the time the others returned. They all sat around an unlit fire and listened to the report — Murphy had found several encampments of Ontari’s warriors about 2 kilometers west of Mount Weather; Clarke reported that the warriors to the south were 3 kilometers out; Ellicott had found another few groups 1 kilometer out to the east of Mount Weather, nearest to them.

“We should be fine if we can get past the warriors in the east,” Kane thought aloud, looking at the map Clarke had drawn out. He focused on the many Xs, marking every spot they had found warriors. There were 14 Xs. “That only involves three camps and a kilometer of ground to cover to the door.”

“You want us to go through the front door? We should attack from the north,” Ellicott suggested, drawing his finger along a trade route. “They won’t be expecting that.”

“They’ll be expecting everything, they have Emerson,” Clarke reminded them. “He’s faced us before, he knows what we’ll do.”

“The north’s no good anyway, we barely made it here,” a deep voice behind Kane said.

The army had approached so silently, they hadn’t noticed their presence until Roan had spoken. Bellamy was quick to embrace Clarke, pulling her tight against his chest and burying his face in her hair. Kane smiled to himself before turning to his people. Octavia and Lincoln stood front and center, holding hands. He noticed that Bryan and Nate Miller were still upset with each other, standing as far from each other as they could.

Finally, he turned his attention to the king, letting the smile fade. “We need to talk.”

* * *

They gathered in one of the newly erected tents. Lexa, Roan, and Kane stood on one side of the table, Ellicott stood on the other side like he was on trial. Roan didn’t like the idea of having to listen to one of his villagers — he preferred to listen to his advisors.

“So what’s this about?” Roan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Ellicott took in a deep breath and said, “You have a traitor among you,” everyone looked at the others before Ellicott continued, “no, not in this tent. One of your chiefs, _Haihefa_ , has betrayed you. I know because he is _my_ chief. With the help of Knox and Tara, I managed to spy on Erie. While we were still in Tonawa, he was meeting with a man called Emerson. He would sneak off into the woods, but I’m not sure what he told him.”

“How did you follow him?” Roan asked. “Erie is smart.”

“I understand, _Haihefa_. He is not observant when he should be,” Ellicott said simply. “He never knew I was following him.”

“And you heard nothing of his conversations?” Lexa asked, leaning against the table.

“No, Commander, I could not get close enough,” he said, hanging his head.

“Don’t feel shame, you’ve done well, Ellicott,” she replied. He nodded and let himself out of the tent.

“What are we going to do about it?” Kane asked, turning to the other two.

“We’ll convene a council and vote on the matter,” Roan said.

“You could provide the punishment, Roan,” Lexa suggested. “It would save us the trouble of gathering the leaders.”

He shook his head. “We must follow the laws, no shortcuts, Commander.”

* * *

The Council found Erie guilty and he was sentenced to death by a thousand cuts. The punishment was carried out the following morning at dawn. Everyone was there to watch and nearly all of Azgeda had a hand in his death. They spend the rest of the day devising an attack strategy before they told the armies that they were going to attack that night. They kept their cheers low, though Kane was sure that Ontari’s forces knew they were there.

The sun fell and the moon shone bright in the sky. The armies were spread out, each near enough to each camp to hear their chatter. Skaikru was with Lexa, Indra, and their army. They would take the three easternmost camps. Clarke tried to persuade Kane to stay back with Jackson and Raven, but he wouldn’t listen to them, not with the way Roan had been looking at him all day, like he was about to fall over if the brace on his leg wasn’t holding him up.

The horn sounded and they all moved at once toward the camps. Once he cleared the trees, Kane saw that the other Azgeda army was ready for them. Their weapons were drawn. Kane was forced to quickly dodge a blow from a warrior, feeling his brace protest the movement. A sinking feeling went through his body — he knew wouldn’t last long if his brace broke. He wouldn’t be able to get off of the battlefield before being killed.

His gun at the ready, he fought with the Blakes and Lincoln by his side. It was like they were protecting him from the others, like an honor guard for fallen soldiers in the old days. He was both grateful and embarrassed for having their protection. They blocked blows for him, taking wounds themselves. He knew he should tell them to leave him be, but he didn’t have it in him — he needed them.

 

What seemed like hours later, Kane found himself backed against a rock with Lincoln, Jasper, Harper, and Bellamy. They were surrounded, Ontari’s forces closing in. Kane checked his clip and saw that he only had two bullets left. He asked, “How much ammo do you four have?”

Lincoln checked his quiver of arrows and found five; Bellamy had three bullets; Jasper had one; and Harper had none. They all looked at each other; they knew what was about to happen. Or at least they thought they did.

“Tell Abby I’m sorry,” Kane whispered. He dropped his gun by Bellamy’s feet and walked out despite the hands that grabbed at him. He raised his own and called, “ _Ai laik Markos kom Skaikru. Tsa dison laik odon._ | I am Marcus of the Sky People. Let’s get this over with.”

“ _Yu ste set daun?_ | You are surrendering?” A tall man with braided hair asked, pointing his machete at Kane. “ _Skaikru ste odon?_ | The Sky People are finished?”

“ _Sha_ | Yes,” Kane said, his hands dropping an inch.

_“Eni las telon?_ | Any last words?” The same man asked.

Kane nodded. “ _Bellamy_.”

Six shots rang out as five arrows sailed through the air. Two more arrows came and Kane felt a sharp pain in his side. He clenched his side and fell to the ground in pain. It wasn’t the worst he’d ever felt, but it was up there. A thunder of footsteps surrounded him and soon Bellamy was crouching by his side.

“You’re okay, you’ll be fine,” Bellamy muttered more to himself than to Kane. The sound of gunshots rang in the woods, but they soon died out and there were cheers. Kane clung to consciousness as he tried to figure out who it was that was cheering. There was too much noise to decipher and Kane felt pressure on his side as Bellamy tried to stop the bleeding caused by the arrow wound.

“Kane!” Clarke screamed, shoving her way through the crowd and kneeling next to him. She gripped his hand, tears in her eyes. “No, no. Kane, hang in there. We’ll get you to Mom. Please, you’ll be okay!”

He squeezed her hand as tightly as he could, but saw that his strength was weak. He felt himself losing consciousness. He clung to the thought of Abby and Benja and the baby, but it wasn’t enough. Everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for hanging in there with me. I know it's been a long time and I'm sorry, but I've been extremely busy/depressed lately. Sorry!
> 
> Love,  
> Lauren


	15. Five Words

_“From the ashes, we will rise_.” —Thelonious Jaha, “We Will Rise”

* * *

 

Abby’s eyes were shut as she pinched the bridge of her nose. She was getting no where. Jaha wasn’t going to magically decide to give up ALIE’s control. She opened her eyes and found Jaha staring at her, a small smile on his face.  
“Abby, you already know what’s going to happen,” he said quietly. “You’re going to let me go because there’s nothing wrong with me.”  
“Like hell there isn’t,” she retorted, standing and pacing the floor. She wracked her brains for any ideas. She looked at the x-ray on the lighted chart board on the wall. She could see the chip firmly in place at the base of Calder Meson’s skull. He had come in complaining of pain and had no recollection of taking the chip in the first place. Abby knew that he had lost his wife in the fall and understood why he had taken it.  
The chip had to be disconnected, Abby knew that. But the question was how…  
Her brain clicked and she grabbed her radio, telling Helm to watch Jaha while she was gone. She headed right for Engineering and found Sinclair and Monty working on the City of Light issue. He turned away from his computer when she entered and asked, “Why do you look so happy?”  
“Because Raven and you are going to help me heal Thelonious and the others,” she said, holding up her radio. She pressed the button and said, “Raven, are you there?”  
A few moments later, Raven’s voice cracked through the radio, “Yeah, Doc. What’s up?”  
“Did you ever figure out a way to disconnect the chip from the spine without crippling the patient?” Abby asked, fingers fidgeting on radio.  
“Only a developing theory,” she hesitated. “But it may cause brain damage, I haven’t figured out the kinks yet.”  
Sinclair grabbed the radio from Abby, he said, “This isn’t the one we discussed, is it?”  
“Yeah.”  
“That’ll never work,” Sinclair said.  
“What is it?” Abby asked.  
“She wants to shock the chip with an electromagnet pulse. I told her it’s crazy,” Sinclair said, shaking his head. “It can’t be done. They’ll be brain dead.”  
“We have to try something,” Abby said, frowning. “Maybe not that, but something.”  
“Hey, you have to hit the button for me to hear anything,” Raven interjected. “What’s going on?”  
“We’re discussing what to do,” Abby said, pressing the button this time. “We’re not doing the EMP, it’s too risky.”  
“We’ll have to dismantle the City of Light from within,” Sinclair said, reaching for the radio. “Raven, how soon can you get back here?”  
“I have to wait for this battle to finish. If they need me, I have to stay. If not, I’ll come back.”  
Abby was conflicted — she wanted the battle to succeed and for the armies to take Mount Weather, but she also wanted this City of Light problem taken care of as quickly as possible.  
Abby returned to Medical, leaving Sinclair with the radio to talk out the details with Raven. She found Helm on the ground, knocked out.  
Thelonious was gone.

* * *

Abby woke to the sound of a pounding on her door. Groggily, she pulled on her robe and opened the bedroom door, assuming Thelonious had been caught. Clarke was standing there, covered in blood. Abby knew whose blood that was. After a few heart pounding moments, she was able to ask, “Is he…?”

“He’s alive, but he needs you,” Clarke said in a rush, tugging on her mom’s hand. She yanked her out of the room as Benja’s door flew open. He yelled, “Chit’s gon daun? | What’s going on?”  
They didn’t have time to answer and the door slid shut behind them. Clarke and Abby ran down the hallway and out of Gedanes. They went into Alpha Station and sprinted down the corridor until they reached Medical. The door burst open and Abby’s eyes fell on him.  
Murphy, pressing gauze to Marcus’ side, looked up as Abby and Clarke ran over to him and Kane. Kane was pale — paler than he should be. Abby’s heart sank as she looked at him: his skin around the stab wound was bruised; the wound itself was bright red; he had internal bleeding and an infection, she was sure. Abby grabbed the medicine she needed and stood next to the operating table, changing into an operating gown and tossing aside her robe.  
“What do you need me to do?” Murphy asked, his pressure on the wound unyielding.  
“Tell us, Mom,” Clarke said, pushing up her sleeves.  
Abby’s brain clicked into gear and she said, “Hook up those dual IV bags. He’ll need the pain medication.” Murphy did that as Abby held out her steady hand and said to Clarke, “Scalpel.”

* * *

Abby slept at his bedside that night, waking up periodically to check his vitals. He was holding steady and wasn’t succumbing to the infection. She had high hopes for his recovery — but, she would have those even if his vitals were tanking. Marcus was a fighter and there was no way that he would leave her alone in this world.

There wasn’t any sign of life until ten in the morning; Benja was sitting next to Marcus’ bed when he heard the quiet voice next to him. He shouted for Abby who was dozing off in the chair in her office. She woke with a start and ran onto the ward, spotting Marcus who was sitting up and smiling.  
“I’m sorry,” was the first thing he said. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. Her tears wet his shoulder as his arms wrapped around her. She tried not to hold him too tightly because of the wound, but she couldn’t stop herself.  
She heard him whisper, “Are you okay?”  
She shook her head against him and replied, “I thought I was going to lose you.”  
“I’m sorry if I worried you, ai niron,” he said, kissing her forehead. She pulled away, giving Benja the opening to grab his hand and hold it tight. Kane smiled at him and said, “Ha yu? | How are you?”  
“Ai ste os | I’m okay,” Benja replied. “Yu gon nou feva. | You weren’t gone very long.”  
“I know,” Kane said, smiling weakly. Abby brushed some hair out of his face and he caught her hand. He said quietly, “Maybe I shouldn’t fight anymore.”  
No statement could have made Abby happier.

* * *

A week later, two good things had happened. Marcus was out of the hospital and had assumed his role as Chancellor again and the Guards had finally found Thelonious. He working in an abandoned part of Alpha Station, uploading ALIE to the mainframe. He was now in Lockup, awaiting his sentence from Marcus and the Council. The only problem was that they didn’t have a crime to pin him to. They spent many emergency Council meetings trying to figure it out. They finally settled on “conspiracy.”

Kane walked along the corridor to Lockup, passing some paintings they had procured from Mount Weather. He liked these ones — they offered the notion of hope and happiness. He found it ironic that these led to the place criminals were.  
Jaha wasn’t the only person in the cell. William Lacroix sat in the corner, reading a book — he didn’t pay Jaha any mind. He didn’t even look at Kane when he stepped up to the bars. Kane figured he was still mad about the Council decision to leave him in the cell for at least a year after the battle. They would re-evaluate him then.  
Jaha, however, walked right over to him and asked, “Have you made your decision?”  
“We’ve charged you with conspiracy,” Kane said, gaging Jaha’s reaction. He didn’t get one.  
“These bars cannot hold me forever,” he replied. “They’re electronic, I have a friend in the system.”  
“Yeah, the red lady who speaks to you,” Kane said slowly. He still didn’t understand the whole City of Light nonsense.  
“She can speak to you too, Marcus,” Thelonious said in nothing more than a whisper. “She can speak to everyone.”  
“I’d rather speak to something I can see.” Sensing that Thelonious was about to tell him that he would be able to see ALIE if he took the chip, Marcus held up his hand to silence him in advance. “You’ll remain in this cell until we deem it’s safe to let you out.”  
“And how long will that be?”  
“Only time will tell, old friend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for continuing to hang in there with me. I really appreciate it! I hope you enjoy this short chapter. 
> 
> -Lauren


	16. Forced Migration

_“I’m not going to let these people die here.”_ —Marcus Kane, “The Calm”

 

 

* * *

 

In the three weeks since they started the blockade of Mount Weather, they had since abandoned the effort. With the City of Light dismantled — primarily thanks to Raven, Sinclair, and Monty — Jaha was his old self and had alerted them of the nuclear wave that was heading their way. The ‘death wave’ as he called it would arrive at Arkadia in a month. 96% of Earth would be uninhabitable. They decided that they had more important concerns than Ontari in Mount Weather.

Their first thought was to improve Arkadia’s exterior to allow Skaikru to inhabit there. But they ruled that out in a Council decision, deciding that all of them — including members of the Coalition — would need to find a place to stay. They could of course take Mount Weather from Ontari, but they didn’t want to risk the lives. Their best choice was finding a spot in the 4% of Earth that would still be habitable after the wave hit.

They had all members of the Engineering, Mechanical, Chemistry, Agro, and Environment and Resources departments working on the issue. They all had state-of-the-art computers and could devote all of their resources to the problem. Bennett was the leader of the “project” as head of Environment and Resources and he was doing a remarkable job.

Kane walked down the hallway — faster than he had been able to weeks earlier — and went through the open door of E and R. It was packed with people all staring at the same massive screen. The last of Bennett’s tests was finishing and they would know if they had a chance of moving to a new location or if they would be forced back in the Ice Nation Civil War.

They didn’t even notice that Kane had arrived, save for the people in the back. Macallan van Dijk and Lori Matossi stepped aside to let Kane through and the others did too when they saw him. Within a minute, he was between Bennett and Sinclair, watching the number on the screen creep toward 100%.

The screen went black for a moment before it loaded with the results. Kane’s eyes widened.

Of the 510,100,000 km² available, they had 20,404,000 km² to work with. Most of the “pockets of survivability” as they were calling them were in the ocean. But they had about 35% to work with on land, which left them with 7,141,400 km². Unfortunately, a lot of that was in other countries. But, there were two spots in what used to be North America. One was deep in Ice Nation territory, the other was where the Baja California Peninsula used to be.

Kane shared a look with Bennett and Sinclair. They all knew which one they would go for and it wouldn’t be the one in the always warm weather.

Bennett turned toward the group surrounding him and, pointing at the spot to the North, said, “There it is, that’s our only chance. Start mapping routes there and packing. We need to leave soon.”

As the workers began to walk back to their work stations in their respective departments, Kane turned to Bennett and Sinclair and said, “Council meeting in 15 minutes.”

 

* * *

 

The Council chamber was full for the first time in a long time. All six Councillors plus the Chancellor were there, of course, but so were Clarke, Monty, Raven, Eleanor Nelson (head of Agro and enormously pregnant), Jaha, Roan, Lexa, and Indra. The room was tense because the conversation would be life or death.

Bennett opened the discussion by telling everyone what they had found. He brought the map up on the projector and pointed to the triangle of habitable land. “This is where we’re going. It’s in what used to be the state of Michigan in the USA. It’s located in the northern portion of the lower peninsula. The three cities that mark the points are historically called Cheboygan, Grayling, and Traverse City—”

“They’re Chebo, Gray, and Traver now,” Roan interrupted, studying the map.

Bennett nodded. “Good to know. Anyway, it’s a good chunk of land so we’ll all be comfortable there. I suggest we move as soon as possible so we can be settled by the time the death wave comes.”

“I agree,” Lexa said, nodding. Roan nodded too.

There was a breath of silence. Sinclair took over, “It’ll take us a full day of driving to get there, but we’ll need to recharge the batteries so we’ll say two or three days as we’ll only get about 7 hours of driving out of it—”

“Actually, if we increase the capacity of the solar panels mounted to the rover,” Raven interrupted, “we’ll be able to increase their output by 40 percent, making them last a full 9.8 hours before needing a recharge.”

“But do we have enough solar panels for all of the vehicles we have?” Scanlan asked. “At my last count, we had six rovers and at least 8 other vehicles.”

Sinclair nodded. “We’ll have enough, we’ll have to build some makeshift ones, but they’ll still be able to hold the same amount of amps.”

“How many people can each vehicle transport?” Eleanor asked, taking notes for the departments working on the project.

“The six rovers can hold 12 uncomfortably, the five vans will take 20, the three pickups can hold six in the cab and about 10 in the beds.” Sinclair replied.

“So that’s 220 people per trip,” Kane said, thinking.

Jaha interrupted, “We have to prepare ourselves for the likely scenario that we can’t save everyone. We have 512 people — they should be our first priority.”

“And what about the members of the Coalition?” Indra asked, anger flaring on her face. “We have over 10,000 people.”

“They’ll have a month to make their own way to Michigan,” Jaha said simply.

“We’re not leaving them behind!” Kane yelled suddenly. All eyes turned to him. “They’re our people too, they’re making it if we do.”

Indra nodded in approval. The tense moment passed and Jaha remained silent.

“We need to talk about the wounded,” Kane began.

“No need,” Abby said grimly. “Liza Warren died yesterday morning and Robert Hill won’t last until tomorrow. The rest have been discharged.”

There was a moment’s silence for the dead, but when they continued, they acted as if they hadn’t heard the status of those in Medical. Kane turned to Eleanor and asked, “Will you be able to handle the move?”

Eleanor smiled and replied, “Of course, I’m nearly eight months pregnant, but I can still manage.”

“Well, if she can do it, any of us can do it,” Raven commented.

Kane nodded. “We should start moving by the end of the week—”

“That’s only four days, Kane,” Monty interrupted. “How are we going to pack up the essential systems that fast?”

“We won’t,” Jaha replied. “The essential systems will have to be transported by trailer, which we’ll have to fix up. So those working on them will have to remain behind until the last shipment starts.”

Kane was vaguely reminded of the Chancellor Jaha used to be and he was glad that he wasn’t brainwashed anymore. He said, “That’s right. All essential personnel will have to remain until the end, likely a few days before the death wave hits.”

“You want us to risk our lives for some machines?” Clarke asked, speaking for the first time in the meeting.

“You’re not staying,” Abby said, giving her daughter a look.

“What do you mean I’m not staying?” Clarke said, frowning. She seemed hurt that she wasn’t deemed “essential personnel.”

“You’ll be going to Michigan with several of the Guard,” Kane said. “Your responsibility will be keeping the peace while things are set up.”

Reluctantly, she nodded. Bellamy, seated next to her, squeezed her hand. She looked at him, but didn’t smile.

“We’ll need time to discuss who’s leaving on the different convoys,” Bennett said.

“Of course,” Kane nodded. He looked at the three Grounders in the room. “But, I believe that the Coalition should leave on the first convoy. How long will it take you to get there by horse?”

Lexa considered if for a moment and replied, “A week or a week and a half.”

“You should leave by Saturday,” Bennett advised, checking his chart. “The acid rain will arrive within the week. We’ll provide you with protective coverings.”

“Thank you,” Lexa replied. She rose to leave, Roan and Indra followed.

Eleanor stood up to and said, “I should get these notes back to the workers. We have a lot to prepare.”

She left, followed by the rest of those working on the project: Monty, Raven, and Jaha (a former engineer). That left Clarke and the Council. As the Coalition Ambassador, she should be involved in all decisions for the foreseeable future.

“We have a list of all of our people,” Sinclair said, looking down at his tablet. “There are certain departments that need to leave on the first convoy. I would suggest Agro, Engineering, Environment and Resources, nearly all of the Medical department, Chemistry, the teachers, and the children. We need the mechanics here to repair anything that might go wrong. I would suggest sending one on each convoy.”

“We only have three mechanics,” Kane said, glancing down at his own list. “I want Raven here to decide what needs to be put in the trailer. Mel and Robert will suffice.”

“So how many people does that put on the first convoy?” Abby asked.

“Seven guards, three from Agro, two from Engineering save for Sinclair, three from E and R, two mechanics save for Raven, four doctors, three chemists, four teachers, and twenty-one children,” Sinclair replied.

“That’s only 49,” Bennett said. “We have plenty more room.”

“Remember the 14 drivers and parents of the children,” Abby pointed out. Bennett nodded.

“So 93,” Bennett said. “We have room for 127 more people.”

“We should do a sign-up sheet,” Clarke suggested. “Those who want to go first can. They should know that they’ll be establishing our camp.”

“That’s smart. We’ll give them a choice,” Kane nodded. He glanced around the table. “Anything else?” No one spoke. “Let’s get to work then.”

 

* * *

 

“You’re not coming on the first convoy, are you?” Abby asked that night as they packed up the essentials in their apartment.

“I’m needed here,” Kane said, zipping his rucksack. He turned to her. “I’ll feel a lot better if you’re on the first convoy.”

She was silent for a moment, but nodded.

He frowned and stepped toward her, pulling her into his arms. “What’s wrong?”

Her face pressed against his t-shirt, she whispered, “What happens if Ontari attacks?”

“Then we fight her off,” he replied.

She shook her head. “It won’t be that simple. She has a massive army, if our guards and all of the Coalition leaves, we’ll be virtually defenseless.”

“This place will look like a ghost town, there’s not need to attack it,” he reasoned. He didn’t want her to worry, not when he had thousands of miles to travel. “And the convoys won’t be going near Mount Weather, we have nothing to worry about.”

“I hope you’re right,” she muttered.

 

* * *

 

The first convoy was packed and ready to go by Saturday afternoon, but they decided to wait until Sunday morning to leave. Those who were leaving loved ones decided to spent their night following dinner in their homes. Kane found himself on the couch of his home sandwiched between Abby, Benja, and Clarke.

An old movie was on the screen, but they were barely watching it. Benja had his arms wrapped tight around one of Kane’s — he still didn’t like that Kane was being ‘left behind.’ Even Clarke stated that she wished he was coming. Abby, silent the whole time, held Kane’s hand, her eyes gazing unfocused at the screen.

At last, it was time to go to bed and Clarke and Benja went to their rooms. Abby took Kane by the hand to theirs. She shut the door behind them and pulled him against her. He kissed her slowly, holding her to him by her hips. She sank into his embrace and ran her fingers through his soft hair.

They took it slow that night, mapping each other’s skin with their lips. Kane spent a lot of time kissing her stomach, wondering if he would ever hold the child within. He didn’t want to tell Abby that he shared her worries about Ontari and her army. He wouldn’t do anything to cause her more stress. Their baby was too important.


	17. Traver

_“Now we survive.”_

— Clarke Griffin, “Echoes”

 

* * *

 

The convoy pulled to a stop at the city limits. Murphy was the first out, opening the door for everyone and making sure to help Emori and Abby out of the vehicle. Abby smiled at him and slung her bag over her shoulder. Clarke and Benja flanked her as they looked at their new home. Jasper, walking around the rover, pointed at the massive sparkling lake in front of them, “Why couldn’t we have landed here?”

The water was a vivid blue-green in the sunlight. It stretched as far as they could see. The beach was a light tan and completely smooth, like no one had touched foot on it in a century, which, given the emptiness of the town, was very plausible.

Abby said, “Come on, we have a lot to do before nightfall.”

Monty led the way with the old map. They walked along the beach, watching the fish jump. They arrived in what used to be the downtown area and were surprised to find it relatively intact, only a few buildings burned down. Bellamy commented, “It’s like this place never saw the nuclear war.”

“That must be why it won’t see the death wave,” Clarke mused, scanning the buildings in their neat rows.

“All right, so this was Front Street,” Monty said, following their path with his finger on the map. “Not too far from here, there is a row of condos that will serve us well. Keep an eye out, they’re blue.”

The condos weren’t hard to find, they were a street south from the massive beach they had walked along the entire way, about twenty minutes now the road. There were at least 20 buildings and they knew that each held 6 apartments, making it 120 homes each with 2 bedrooms. In the surrounding blocks, there were dozens of homes they could choose from for larger families.

The guards swept the buildings first and when the all-clear was given, everyone proceeded toward their assigned apartments. Several of the families remained outside, waiting for their home assignments. Kane had chosen from the ones directly behind the apartment complex. Some were too small for their needs, but others would do just fine.

Abby, Clarke, and Benja proceeded to a dark blue, two-story home about two blocks away from the apartment complex. It backed up on a large park that they would use as their gathering place. The large trees provided the front porch with plenty of shade. There was a swing on the wide front porch. The front door was red.

Clarke was the first one through the door, telling the other two to wait outside. She had her gun out and came back out once the coast was clear. They walked in together, amazed by the condition it was in. Clarke muttered, “Monty’s right, why couldn’t we have landed here?”

Abby smiled and walked along the white oak hardwood floor. She arrived in the kitchen, taking in the gray quartz countertop, the bright red cabinets, and the stainless steel appliances. It was the biggest kitchen she had ever seen. She commented, “This is quite the home.”

Behind her, Clarke nodded. Benja said, “ _Em ste os._ | It is great.”

Abby smiled. As the other two went to find the bedrooms on the second floor, Abby walked further into the kitchen. Her eyes honed in on the pictures on the fridge. The top one was of a family, all with brown hair and light eyes, ice skating on the frozen lake 100 meters from her — their — house. A sudden guilt came over her as she looked over the other pictures — the boy on a tire-swing, the family on the beach, the little girl on a horse. _Why did they leave? Or, did they even leave?_

Abby wipe a tear from her eye as she walked toward the stairs. She mounted them and slowly climbed. Benja ran across the landing, glancing down at Abby halfway up the stairs. He yelled, “Bedroom!”

Abby’s frown disappeared as she followed him into his new bedroom: a large rectangle room with pale blue walls, a bed, a dresser, a desk, a computer, and a bookshelf. He sat down at the computer and tried to turn it on, but there was no power.

“Mom, Kane is on the radio,” Clarke said, walking into the room. She handed the radio to Abby as she walked over to Benja. She clapped him on the shoulder and said, “ _Monti na fis em op._ | Monty will fix it.”

He smiled and looked fondly at the black screen. Abby left them and entered her new bedroom. Distracted momentarily by the large bay window that had a view of the lake, Abby shut the door and sat down on a chair in the corner. She pressed the button on the radio and said, “Marcus?”

He answered immediately, “ _How was the trip?”_

She smiled. “Uneventful.”

 _“That’s all that we can hope for,”_ he mumbled. Louder, he said, _“What’s the town like?”_

“Deserted. Marcus, there’s _no one_ here. You would think that the safest place in the surrounding area would have some interest.”

 _“You have to wonder where the people went,”_ Kane said quietly.

“I know,” she said, frowning.

They were silence for a few minutes, the only sound the static on the radio. Abby finally broke it, “When are you coming?”

_“I’ll be on the last convoy.”_

She sighed.

_“Abby, I’m sorry. But I have to be here to oversee the migration.”_

“I know, Marcus,” she began. She paused for a few second before saying, “But, I can’t help but think that there’s something not right here.”

_“You have the guard, the Coalition’s on their way, and Clarke won’t leave your side. Everything will be fine.”_

“That’s not what I meant. I don’t think there’s a threat. I just have to know what happened here.”

_“I know, Abby. Look into it and let me know if anything is wrong.”_

“I will.” She frowned, knowing that he should get back to his work. “I love you, _ai gona_.”

She could almost hear the smile in his voice. He said, _“I love you too,_ ai niron _. Keep safe.”_

 

* * *

 

The orange line was on the horizon and Abby sat on a bench on the beach with Benja. Numerous other Arkadians stood or sat near them on benches or blankets, waiting for the sun to rise. The orange turned to pink, red, and a faint yellow. They hadn’t witnessed something quite like this in the east at Arkadia. The feeble rays shimmered off the water, blinding them as it rose further and further.

“Abby?”

She turned in her seat to find Monty and Jasper looking at her. Their faces looked grim.

“Can we talk to you?” Monty asked, blocking the rising sun with his hand.

“Of course,” she said, standing from the bench to walk a short distance away so Benja couldn’t hear.

“We found something in our condo,” Jasper said, holding out the note to her. Abby took it tentatively.

There were only 3 words written on it: _Don’t trust them._

“What would you have us do?” Monty asked.

“Is this it?” She asked, running her finger over the words long-ago written.

“Do you need more to start worrying?” Jasper asked.

“I guess not,” Abby said with a sigh. “Who do you think they meant? A tribe here?”

“That’s our best guess,” Monty said, nodding.

Jasper said, “Or maybe it’s the missing people.”

Abby frowned as she pulled the radio off of her hip. She pressed the button and called Marcus’ name. He answered within moments. _“What’s wrong, Abby?”_

“Marcus, we’ve found a note in one of the condos.” She explained the situation and waited for him to say something.

“‘ _Don’t trust them?’ That’s all it said?”_

“We think it may be a tribe near here; Jasper thinks it’s the missing citizens,” Monty said

 _“Hmm…Could be anything,”_ Marcus replied. _“Keep your eyes out, but I don’t think it’s something to worry too much about. We don’t know how old that note is. It could be nearly a 100 years old.”_

“Marcus is right,” Abby said. “There’s no use speculating. This paper does look pretty old.”

“The writing doesn’t,” Jasper noted. He was right — the ink was very black, not frayed very much.

Kane replied, _“Just keep your eyes open and be alert.”_

 

* * *

 

That afternoon, the park was bustling with people. The carpenters were hard at work building the cafeteria, canteen, stables, and training grounds. Sami Helm was preparing dinner over a fire with the help of those from distribution: Yui Hill, Helena Costa, and Emori, John Murphy’s girlfriend. The members of the guard were conducting fighting drills under the leadership of Aidan Helm.

An old office building stood adjacent to the park. Medical would be conducted in an old clinic on the first floor; chemistry would be down the hall. Engineering was set to be on the second floor with environment and resources, guard offices were on the third along with a training area converted from an old gym, and the Council chamber and councillor offices were located on the fourth floor. Education would be conducted in a nearby school; there was some structural problems — likely from a small bomb — but they would be fixed before teaching began.

The Council chamber was a large conference room with floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the park. A large, round table sat in the center of the room, surrounded by seven chairs. Only five would be occupied today. Abby sat in one near the window so she could watch the workers while she waited for the others.

Bellamy and Clarke were the first to arrive, appearing as if they had just had an intense discussion. Abby didn’t say anything to their simultaneous arrival; the two were inseparable lately. Clarke, the Coalition Ambassador, was only invited to discuss the opportunities of trade and peace with the other members of the Coalition once they arrived. They sat down after saying a brief hello and resumed their conversation. Scanlan, Bennett, and Gwen arrived separately, but within minutes of each other. Abby knew that they had each been surveying their new department areas: Scanlan on the third floor, Bennett on the second, and Gwen, the last to arrive, at the run-down school.

“Jasper and Monty found a note in their condo,” Abby began once all were seated. She passed the note to Scanlan on her right, who passed it to Bennett. They both looked at Abby after reading. Once all had read the note, Abby continued, “The question is: what do we make of this?”

“What does the Chancellor have to say about it?” Bennett asked.

“He says not to worry too much,” Abby replied. “But we have to be alert.”

“Kane’s right,” Bellamy said, “there’s not much we can do without more to go on.”

“Don’t you think that we should send out some of the Guard to check out the surrounding area?” Gwen asked, frowning. “What if we’re not safe?”

Abby considered it a moment. Reconnaissance would be smart and Kane was right, they shouldn’t let down their guard. They had to know what they were up against.

“Bellamy, Scanlan: take four others and secure a five kilometer perimeter around Traver,” Abby commanded. The two nodded and rose from their seats, sensing that this was an order best carried out immediately.

“Do we tell the people?” Gwen asked.

Abby shook her head. “Not until they have something to worry about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not posting in half a year. A lot has happened in the past six months. Thanks for staying with me after all of this time. 
> 
> -Lauren


End file.
